Sonic Chronicles: The Search for the Seven Chaos
by SonicKnuxMiku25096
Summary: The second book of my Sonic Chronicles series. Sonic, Rachel and Thunder go on an adventure to find all seven Chaos Emeralds in various different worlds before it's too late.


Sonic Chronicles: Search for the Seven Chaos

Chapter One:

Sonic opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed through the windows as Sonic rolled over in bed. He sat up, rubbed his eyes and yawned. He looked over at the door to his left and grinned. Slowly, he crept out of bed and walked over to the door. He gently placed his hand on the knob and carefully turned it. As he pushed it open, he saw Rachel sleeping on the bed inside peacefully. Sonic snickered as he slowly walked up to her.

He came to her bedside, took a deep breath and yelled, "OH MY CHEESE! RACHEL, YOU'RE FALLING!" Rachel's eyes snapped open. She jolted up and screamed. Sonic dropped to the floor and started rolling around laughing. Rachel grunted and launched a pillow at him. It him square in the face, but he barely noticed. Rachel pouted and crossed her arms.

"Sonic, that's not funny! I thought I was going to die..." Sonic jumped onto the bed and hugged Rachel. "I'm sorry, can you forgive me?" He put his hands in a begging position and pouted. Rachel twirled her semi-curly hair. "I don't know...I might leave over this..." Sonic's eyes widened and he protested, "You can't be serious! I love you, please don't leave!"

"But I just want to fade _away _Sonic!" "What?" She giggled. "Nothing." She buried her head in his chest and hugged him. "Of course I won't leave over this." Sonic sighed. "Good. Now, let's go outside." Sonic picked her up and ran out the two doors. He took her by the ocean and onto a rock. He placed his hand on her face as he leaned forward to kiss her when a voice rang out yelling, "HOLD IT!" Sonic jumped back and looked around. Thunder came running towards them, making loud noises as he went. He stopped in front of the rock.

"Can't you two do this somewhere else? Besides, Rachel needs to practice taking control of her powers more!" Sonic became disgruntled and Rachel frowned. "I haven't had an occurrence for the past few days!" Rachel said. "Yeah, and she's controlling it really well! She can pick up objects now!" Sonic chimed in. But Thunder still didn't seem convinced.

"Yes, but we still don't know what caused it!" Thunder insisted. Rachel sighed. "It was Eggman! It happened when he sucked the life out of me! It's also why my hair is different." She pointed to the curls and white streak in her hair.

"Well, we still have the problem of finding the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic pointed out. "Oh!" Rachel said jumping up, "Speaking of emeralds, I have to see Knuckles!" She looked at Sonic hopefully. He frowned, but nodded his head. Rachel kissed him, waved goodbye to Thunder and ran off. Thunder stood in silence for several moments as he stared after her. Sonic's eyes widened. Thunder began to twitch slightly. He grunted and fell to the ground. Sonic ran to his side. "Are you ok, man?"

"Yeah, just, hurt, I guess." He tried to stand up, but collapsed. Sonic looked at him anxiously. Thunder's eyes widened as he shook violently and begged, "No...no…STOP!" Suddenly, he grew bigger in size and burst into flames. His phoenix form looked down at Sonic and growled, "So, you're one of the fools who lost the Seven Chaos."

Chapter Two:

"You mean the...Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic stuttered. The phoenix flapped its magnificent wings and spoke again.

"Yes. The seven Chaos Emeralds that keep this world intact. I am one of the guardians of these precious emeralds. It appears that while I have been inside that idiotic roadrunner, you discarded them into space, and they went to any world in the entire universe!" The phoenix made a terrible screeching sound and flapped its wings even harder, making a wind storm start up. Sonic grabbed onto a rock to keep from flying away.

"Ok! I'll do whatever you want! I'll find the Chaos Emeralds! Just tell me what to do!" The phoenix put circles of fire around it and began to speak in deep, hollow tones.

"Travel the universe to find the seven Chaos! Bring the roadrunner and the one you love! You have exactly one week from when your voyage begins. If you do not follow these directions or you fail to find them in time, the ones you care about will slowly slip away!" With that, the giant bird of fire did a spin and became smaller. The fiery feathers quickly extinguished, and Thunder's limp body appeared on the ground.

"THUNDER!" Sonic yelled as he scrambled over the rock to him. Before he could reach him, a huge portal appeared in the ground, and Sonic yelled as he and Thunder were sucked in.

"So, we're just friends?"

"Well, we could still..."

"_We're just friends?"_ Knuckles sighed.

"Yes. We're just friends." He smiled. "It's for the better," Rachel said holding his hand, "it wouldn't have worked out between us. I had a feeling a few days ago that our relationship was going rapidly downhill." Knuckles laughed.

"Yeah, I had the same feeling myself. I mean, you and Sonic are more alike. You and I are pretty close, but not as much." Rachel hugged him.

"You know, deep inside I'll still have feelings for you, and you will too. I'll come and see you again next week, just like all the other weeks." She kissed him on the cheek. He blushed and waved goodbye to her as she ran off. She made her way past the ruins and took off at a sprint down the grassy hill. She loved how the wind whipped her hair around and made her feel free. But the moment was ruined when suddenly, a huge hole opened up in the ground, and Rachel screamed as it consumed her.

Chapter Three:

Sonic opened his eyes. He was lying on a coarse, sandy ground. He grunted as he stood up. He gazed around for a minute. He gasped and looked around more frantically. He glanced at the ground and noticed that Thunder was slowly awakening.

"Thunder...Thunder...wake up!" Sonic yelled shaking him. Thunder popped up and stared at Sonic. "What the hopping grasshoppers just happened?" Thunder asked looking around in confusion. Sonic pointed in the distance.

"I'll explain later, but look at that!" Thunder looked at the direction that Sonic was pointing to and muttered, "Oh snap..." A giant pyramid stood in the distance, the sun rising up behind it. They gaped at it for several minutes. Sonic listened intently as somebody groaned nearby. "Sonic..." Sonic stared at the ground and noticed Rachel moving around. She coughed slightly and muttered, "Sonic."

Sonic ran to her side and held her hand as he helped her up. She wavered a little, but regained focus and told Sonic that she was all right. She looked at the pyramid and her eyes widened. "Are we in ancient Egypt or something?" she asked. Sonic shrugged.

"I don't know. Couldn't we just be in modern day Egypt?" Rachel shook her head. "Not considering the fact that there's a perfectly intact temple right there!" Sonic and Thunder looked where she was looking. They said nothing as they stared blankly at it. The temple was huge! It had two giant statues of Egyptians with their arms crossed and dog-like masks. "Maybe that is where the first Chaos Emerald is..." Sonic thought aloud. "What?" Thunder asked, looking puzzled.

Sonic sighed and told the story of how the phoenix inside of Thunder had taken control of Thunder, and about the thing he must do. "I didn't want to bring you along Rachel," Sonic said sadly, "because it's too dangerous, but I have no choice." Rachel nodded. "It's ok. I would've come along anyways!" Sonic's eyes widened.

"Really?" "Of course!" Rachel stated, "I'll always come with you to stuff like this!" Sonic smiled. "Ok! First, let's head to that temple I think it's where the first Chaos Emerald is!" Sonic picked Rachel up and made a gesture towards the temple with his head at Thunder. Thunder grinned and nodded. The two of them took off at a dead sprint, leaving dust clouds behind them.

They reached the door of the temple in about 2 minutes, even though it had been 20 miles away. Sonic put Rachel on her feet and pushed the door open. Sonic and Thunder walked inside to explore, but Rachel waited. Nothing happened. _Aren't there usually traps for these things? _Rachel wondered. She shrugged and raced up to Sonic.

All of their footsteps made loud echoes as they traveled along the stone hallway. There were giant statues that looked almost exactly like the ones outside on either side of them. "Look!" Thunder pointed towards the end of the hallway with his wing. Sonic looked and saw a sarcophagus with hieroglyphics written on it. Sonic ran forward and grunted as he pushed on it. No matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn't open. Thunder ran up to help him. They pushed as hard as they could, but it didn't move an inch.

Behind Rachel, a statue's eyes started glowing red. It slowly detached from the beam supporting it and walked over to her. Rachel turned around and screamed. Sonic and Thunder spun around as the statue swung its spear at Rachel.

Chapter Four:

Sonic started to run towards Rachel, but Thunder grabbed him. Sonic began yelling in protest and trying to get away, but Thunder's grip remained strong. Rachel fell to the ground and covered her head with her hands, waiting to be crushed. But it never came. She waited for what felt like forever, but it still never came. She looked around, totally confused. She noticed the statue trying to hit her wildly, but it kept hitting some kind of invisible wall. Rachel gaped at it, confused. Sonic stared at her blankly. Her eyes were gleaming and the statue couldn't hit her. Sonic looked at Thunder, hopeful that he understood. Thunder ignored Sonic and yelled over to Rachel, "It's your new powers! They're stopping the statue from hitting you! Get out of there!"

Rachel immediately leapt to her feet and ran to a corridor in the chamber. She was running much faster than she ever could in her world, considering the fact that she got practice from all the danger in her new life. The statue stomped after her. Rachel stopped at the entrance to the corridor and focused really hard. She focused on a nearby rock and imagined it hitting the statue. Her eyes began to gleam again and the rock levitated into the air and smacked the statue. It staggered backwards, giving Rachel enough time to slip in the corridor undetected. The statue shook its enormous head and scanned the area. It quickly noticed Sonic and Thunder as they ran to the corridor and marched after them. It picked up a stone and chucked it at them. Both of them dodged it and ran in different directions.

"Sonic, you distract the pea-brain while I start clobbering it!" Thunder yelled. Sonic grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. Sonic ran in front of the statue and whistled. The statue directed itself towards him. "Hey, rock brain! Come and get me!" Sonic stuck his tongue out and started to do the chicken dance. The statue raised its spear up and it down. Sonic quickly ran out of the way. He used his index finger and pulled the lower part of his eye down. The statue tried to whack him again, but Sonic was still quicker. He pulled his cheeks apart from inside his mouth and stuck his tongue out. The statue swung and missed again. Sonic started running around and loudly singing, "IT'SSSSSSSSSSS PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!"

Thunder stifled a laugh as Sonic started doing the worm and the Bernie while he kept singing. Thunder snapped back to what he was doing and flew up to the ceiling of the chamber. He used his talons to grab onto the beams. He hung upside down like a bat and waited for the right moment. The head of the statue was right in front of Thunder's beak when he turned back right side up and used his wings to stay in the air. He balled his foot into a fist and punched the statue's head right off. The rest of the stone fell down and broke apart. Thunder flew down and gave Sonic a high-five.

"Man, nice work! I was distracted too!" Thunder said beaming. Sonic laughed. "Yeah, I almost started cracking up when I-.." He was cut short by the sound of rubble. He turned around and gasped as the statue built up again and its eyes started to glow a crimson red.

Chapter Five:

"WHAT!?" Thunder yelled. "How is that possible? You blew its head off!" Sonic protested. The statue roared and pulled its foot up. Sonic and Thunder ran out of the way as the slab of stone hit the ground and left huge cracks. "Thunder, keep it busy! I'm going to see if Rachel can figure this out!" Sonic yelled. "All right- just be quick!" Thunder shouted as he jumped and ran, avoiding the statue.

Sonic slipped through the narrow corridor behind him and ran into a huge fire lit room. Rachel was kneeling in front of a wall that appeared to be made up of stone filing cabinets with hieroglyphics written on them. Sonic paid no attention to it as he ran beside her. "Rachel, the statue can't die! Or, should I say be destroyed... Thunder punched its head off but it came back together! Do you know how to...?" "Shhh!" Rachel turned and scowled at him. Sonic immediately stopped talking and was taken aback. Rachel had never tried to be rude or mean around him. Rachel picked up an old, burnt at the edges scroll and held it up by the palm of her hands. Sonic squinted around the room, trying to spot anything that was happening. Suddenly, a golden eagle swooped down from the top of the wall and grasped the scroll in Rachel's hands. It flew up to the third row and second column. It landed on a jutted out stone nearby and opened the filing cabinet. It then examined the scroll and pulled something out. It was yet another scroll with an ornate wax seal. The golden eagle swooped down and held out the scroll to Rachel. She bowed her head and gently took it. She slowly unraveled it and skimmed over it with her eyes. Sonic peeked over her shoulder. He raised one eyebrow.

"Um, Rachel," he said scratching his head, "how are you reading that? It's written in hieroglyphics!" Rachel giggled and smiled. "Well, I learned from a little research, and this contains all of the information we need about making the statue mortal." She turned towards him and smiled weakly as she blushed.

"Sorry for being rude. It's just that, Horus here likes it quiet." Sonic scrunched up his face. "Who's Horus, and what's with the bird?" Rachel caught him by surprise and kissed him. Sonic had his eyes wide open. She pulled away from him and took his hand. "You'll see. But right now, we should help out Thunder." Sonic let her lead him back down the corridor as he blushed.

Out in the main chamber, Rachel and Sonic watched as Thunder bounced around trying to dodge the monster. "Hey- a little – help – over- here – PLEASE!" Rachel led Sonic over to the sarcophagus with the scroll still firmly grasped in her hand. She placed her hands on the top with a pharaoh engraved in it. Her eyes started to glow as she opened the scroll and recited what it read. She spoke in light tones as the inscriptions glowed. Sonic looked behind him and noticed the statue beginning to stiffen. Rachel continued to speak and soon, the statue stood perfectly still. Thunder grinned and punched its knees out. The rest of the rock tumbled and shattered into pieces. Rachel stopped speaking and groaned as she grimaced. She knelt to the ground and started breathing rather hard. Sonic ran to her side and cheerfully yelled, "You did it! Rachel, I can't believe you figured it out!" Rachel looked at him and smiled weakly as her eyes drooped. "Yeah, I guess I did," she whispered. She then fell forward and passed out.

Chapter Six:

"RACHEL!" Sonic scrambled over to her and rolled her onto her back. He brushed her hair off her face and held her head up. He stroked her arm and told her to stay with him and wake up. Thunder looked down at them sadly. He couldn't think of any possible way that he could help her, but he also didn't think that she was dead. He barely noticed the faint footsteps coming towards them. As they grew louder, Thunder turned around and laid his eyes upon a woman with a golden dress, which was covered in shining gems, and black hair that was separated into strands with gold wrapped around the ends. Her wrists had gold bracelets too. As she approached on her bejeweled shoes, Thunder felt the sudden need to bow to her. He bent his neck as she smiled sweetly to him. She walked towards Sonic as his eyes started to water. She placed a soft hand gently on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes and felt something come over him. Her eyes had a misty rainbow color to them, and Sonic suddenly felt like everything was going to be ok. He slowly placed Rachel on the ground and moved aside, his eyes never leaving the lady's face. The woman knelt down beside Rachel and placed her hand on the center of Rachel's chest. She began mumbling under her breath. A flash of light came from her hand and Rachel's eyes opened. She blinked a few times and smiled at the woman.

"Thank you," she whispered. The woman smiled back and said, "You should be fine now. Just be careful getting up. You might get dizzy." Rachel slowly rose to her feet. She staggered a little, and Sonic rushed to her side immediately. Thunder looked at the mysterious lady and asked, "Who are you?" The lady turned towards him. "My name is Cleopatra, pharaoh of Egypt. I know why you have come here." "You do?" Sonic asked, his eyes widening. "Yes. You wish to have the emerald that came from a distant world. Come, and I shall take you to it." Cleopatra slowly walked to the corridor as Sonic, Thunder, and Rachel followed close behind.

Chapter Seven:

Once inside the fire lit chamber at the end of the corridor, Cleopatra stopped. Sonic, Thunder and Rachel did the same. Cleopatra looked around and the held up her hand, her palm facing downward. The other three looked at each other in confusion. Sonic gave Rachel a, 'Have any idea what's going on here?' type looks. Rachel shook her head and scanned the room. What was Cleopatra waiting for? "Look!" Thunder whispered, pointing to the ceiling. Sonic and Rachel looked up and noticed the golden eagle they had encountered earlier come swooping down onto Cleopatra's hand. The bird trilled as it sat there perched on the queen's hand.

"This is Horus," she explained, "and he knows where the emerald is." "Really? Horus is the bird?" Sonic asked, looking sideways at Rachel. "I have no idea what the rattlesnakes you're talking about," Thunder said looking around wildly. Cleopatra smiled and said, "In time you shall. But right now, let Horus lead us in the right direction." She spoke to Horus with a soft soothing tone. Horus cooed and went up to a shelf that was unlike all the others. It had golden pictures on it with diamonds of every kind. Horus opened it and pulled out a golden rod with a blue diamond on top. The gem sparkled and glowed with a power that seemed oddly familiar to Sonic. Horus flew down and handed the staff to Cleopatra. She bowed her head and took the gem off with a _click._ She handed it to Rachel.

"Take it, child, and put it to good use," she said. She smiled and added, "You are very smart to know the language of the Egyptians and what Horus likes best!" Rachel grinned and bowed to her. She took the Chaos Emerald and waved goodbye. Cleopatra waved back as a light filled the chamber and the trio began to fall once again.

Rachel slowly opened her eyes. She was still falling very fast, but she was underwater. She watched in amazement as fish of every color swam past her. She looked down and nearly choked on water as she gasped at the sight in front of her. Coming closer into view was a city. A big one. Right under the sea. There was a big sign that read, "Rapture: A city of no Kings, Gods, or leaders, just man." Rachel eyes began to close as the city came closer and closer.

Sonic grunted and twitched his hand. His vision was hazy as he lay on the cold, wet, hard floor. He looked at his hand which now had claws. _It must be night time, _he thought. Sonic slowly rose to his feet and looked around. He gaped at the glass window, which was dirty and had water dripping through it, and watched as a whale swam past. Sonic walked closer and pressed his hands against the glass. There was an entire city with electricity, skyscrapers, and everything. A voice groaned from behind him. Sonic whirled around and noticed Thunder sprawled on the floor, still unconscious. Sonic ran over and pulled him upright. Thunder slowly regained consciousness and shook his head. "I'm...fine..." he muttered. Sonic walked towards the end of a hallway and was shocked to see a little girl humming while she was knelt beside a corpse. Sonic became full of anxiety and walked towards her.

Chapter Eight:

"Hello?" Sonic came closer to her. She kept humming as if he wasn't there. As Sonic came closer, he noticed a giant syringe in the little girl's hands. She was sticking it into the corpse. Red liquid was coming in through the glass bottle at the end of it. Sonic cringed as the girl took the needle out of the body. She put the nozzle end of the bottle into her mouth and started drinking the red liquid. She coughed and wiped her mouth with her arm. Sonic studied her from behind. Her hair was in a ponytail with a dirty purple ribbon around it. She had no shoes on and her feet were dirty, rough, and covered in blood. She had on a ripped at the bottom purple dress with a white ribbon tied around her waist, the bow in the back. The dress was also somewhat covered in blood. The girl slowly turned around, her brown hair swishing. Sonic leapt back in surprise. Her eyes were yellow and glowing. She giggled at the sight of him.

"Hi, Mr. Sonic! Daddy and I have been waiting for you!" The girl announced cheerfully. Sonic cringed again. The girl's voice was a mixture of a normal little girl's voice, and a deep, monstrous one.

"Your daddy...?" The girl took off before he could ask questions. Sonic ran after her through the hallways made of steel and covered in ocean plants. His spiked shoes made a _clink, clink, clink _noise as he ran. The girl began skipping and did a little twirl. She stopped in the middle of a room surrounded by glass. She walked in circles and looked around. "Daddy!" she called, "Daddy! Mr. B! Mr. Bubbles! He's here!" A low groan echoed from another hallway. A vibration started traveling through the floor, and Sonic braced himself as the vibrations became more and more noticeable.

Thunder lazily got to his feet in time to notice Sonic running away. Thunder started to follow him, but stopped when he heard tiny footsteps coming. A long shadow appeared and Thunder heard somebody humming. A little girl appeared with glowing yellow eyes, a red dress with a white ribbon, brown hair in a ponytail, no shoes, ripped dress, giant syringe, and blood all over her. She stopped at the sight of Thunder and started trembling. She screamed and yelled, "No strangers, no! You're going to timeout!" While Thunder stood there flabbergasted, a giant machine-like person pounded in. It had something that looked like a scuba diving suit and a drill for a right hand. It was covered in thick brown armor, and the lights in its helmet were yellow. When the little girl screamed again, however, the lights turned red. It let the little girl climb into its back. Then, with no sudden warning, it charged at Thunder.

Sonic saw the exact same thing that Thunder had seen emerge, but he didn't know it yet. The girl giggled and bounced on her feet. "Are you going to play with us, Mr. Sonic?" the girl asked, "Isn't that why you're here?" She looked at him intently with a frown. _What is going on here? _Sonic wondered.

Chapter Nine:

Thunder narrowly escaped the machine and ran off down the hallway. He didn't look back at all.

Sonic stood in silence for a moment, then answered, "I don't have time to play. I need to find a certain gem and fast!" Sonic figured that if the girl already knew him, she would know why he was there. She twirled slowly and stared at her blackened feet. She tapped her left one a few times, and then jumped up excitedly and yelled, "AH HA!" Sonic almost fell backwards in shock. The girl skipped over to her "father".

"Daddy, where's the gift from Miss Tenenbaum?" The machine responded by pulling out a tape recorder. The girl took it, curtsied, and ran towards Sonic. She handed it to him and stepped back. _BOOM, BOOM, BOOM._ Sonic turned around and watched as Thunder came running in. He tripped on a loose floor panel and tumbled beside Sonic. Thunder sprang up and looked behind himself nervously. He looked around the room and his eyes widened when he saw the little girl. He glanced between her and the machine. He started shaking and said, "Um, Sonic, how come there's two of them?" "Shhhh!" Sonic pressed the play button on the recorder and listened closely. Thunder came closer. A voice crackled and then became clearly heard after several moments.

"Hello. My name is Dr. Tenenbaum," the voice said. It sounded like a woman with a German accent. "I know why you are here, Mr. Sonic, and I wish to help you. But first, I must explain a few things. First, you see the little girl in front of you? She is no ordinary little girl. (Thunder said, "REALLY!?") Here in Rapture, she is called a Little Sister. There are many girls like her here. All of them have ADAM slugs inside of them, creatures with the power to create unnatural abilities. The machine beside her is called a Big Daddy. They are protectors who will do whatever it takes to keep their Little Sister safe. The Little Sister was made with a bond to these machines, so they think they're their own father. You may hear the Little Sisters call them Mr. B, Mr. Bubbles, Bubbles, or daddy. But, anyways, I need help with something. I want you to save these little girls. You can do so by killing the ADAM slug inside of her without extracting it. I have a safe haven for them. If you put them beside a golden tunnel, they will go inside and come to me. It is the least I can do after creating them. I turned innocent little girls into these...things. Now, I wish to help them. Now, here's where I can help you. The Little Sister in front of you, her name is Sally. If you do as she tells you, I shall give you what you seek." The recorder crackled and died out. Thunder looked at Sonic nervously. But he noticed that Sonic was looking around frantically. He didn't seem to care about the recording.

"Hey, where's Rachel?" he asked almost desperately. Thunder shrugged. "I don't know," and when Sonic hung his head sadly, Thunder quickly added, ""But, even if we don't find her, she's smart enough to survive on her own!" Sonic nodded slightly, still hanging his head. He turned towards Sally and sighed. "Well, the sooner we do what she wants, the sooner I can find Rachel."

Rachel's eyes drifted open as her vision started to focus. She was lying on a bed in a pink room. She slowly looked around and saw a woman with blonde hair, black glasses and blue eyes. "Rest now, my daughter," she whispered, and Rachel closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

Chapter Ten:

Sonic was dragging his feet as he and Thunder traveled down the hallway. Sonic was becoming very irritated with Thunder, who was hopping instead of walking.

"Hey Sonic, have you ever at least tried to learn how to swim?" "No! Now stop asking questions and keep going!" Sally had told them to go to the gardens in Arcadia to get some apples. Sonic had no idea where it was, but he would do whatever it took to find Rachel as soon as possible.

"Hey Sonic, why do you love Rachel so much?" "Because she's... Look, I don't have to answer that! Can you just concentrate on what we're doing?" Thunder stopped abruptly and stared ahead intently. He scratched his head with one talon and asked, "Hey Sonic, if you and Rachel had a baby, would it be a hedgehog or a human?" "I DON'T KNOW! YOU THINK THAT I WORRY ABOUT THESE THINGS WHEN RACHEL'S LIFE IS IN DANGER!? NO, I DON'T! AND I CAN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS RIGHT NOW! I'LL WORRY ABOUT IT WHEN THE TIME COMES! NOW STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AND COME ON!" Sonic began breathing heavily while Thunder stared at him in disbelief. Sonic was showing his fangs unintentionally while he glared at Thunder. Thunder knew that Sonic was short-tempered sometimes, but he didn't know that he could get that upset. Thunder stood frozen as if his feet were glued to the floor. For the first time ever, he was actually afraid of Sonic.

_He really does love her, _Thunder thought in awe. People were usually scared of Sonic at night time just because he looked scary. But yet, he was the same at heart. Well, almost. He was more serious at night time, but he would still help anyone in danger without a second thought. This was the first time Thunder had seen him get so mad. He couldn't believe it had just happened. Sonic grunted, turned around and stomped away. _If he won't help me, then I can do this task on my own, _Sonic thought with anger. Thunder stayed right where he was, too scared to move.

Sonic opened a creaking gate that lead to a humongous garden. He looked around before cautiously stepping inside. He walked towards the giant trees in the back. He pulled several vines, braches and leaves out of his way as he trudged forward. The forest had every type of plant with every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable. The apple trees were in the very back and were the tallest ones. Sonic reached his right arm up and picked five apples, just as Sally had instructed. Sonic walked out of the garden and went out the gate when he noticed a Little Sister in a red dress being followed by her Big Daddy.

_Well, Tenenbaum requested that I rescue as many Little Sisters as I can, so why not start with this one? _Sonic thought. Although the painful thought of losing time to find Rachel might cost her her life, Sonic still wanted to help the little girls. Sonic crept over to them, trying to attack the Big Daddy by surprise, but the Little Sister instantly saw him and began screaming like a banshee. The Big Daddy's lights turned red as he picked up the girl and placed her on his shoulders. Sonic braced himself as the Big Daddy's drill began to spin.

Chapter Eleven:

After 20 minutes, Thunder was still standing there. He had completely lost Sonic and didn't know what to do. He was thinking of how Sonic might be happier if he found out where Rachel is. Thunder smiled at the thought of him finding her and Sonic being happy again. He thought that maybe if he started searching now, he could find her before Sonic got back. Thunder took off back down the hallway.

Sonic dodged as the Big Daddy charged at him. Sonic kicked it in the face with both feet. It staggered, but retaliated with a punch from its left hand. It hit Sonic on the side of his face, causing him to fall backwards. He immediately got up and punched the Big Daddy back. It went tumbling backwards and hit an explosive canister. It burst, and the Big Daddy caught on fire. It rolled around madly, trying to extinguish the flames. It moaned as the flames went out and its lights turned off. It made no movement as it lay there charred. The Little Sister climbed out of it and started to cry.

"Mr. Bubbles...," she whimpered, "why won't you get up? You're... You're burnt! Make it better!" She started to cry and whimper as Sonic walked over to her. She noticed him coming, but instead of screaming or running, she smiled and giggled. She grabbed his hand and said, "I'll tell all the other girls that I have the BEST daddy!" She began swinging his hand back and forth. Sonic stared at her in confusion. She wanted HIM to be her daddy? She kept staring at him hopefully. Sonic sighed and knew that the only way to free her was to protect her. He picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. She yawned.

"Can we go to the hidey-hole daddy? I don't want to play anymore." Sonic looked around for the golden tunnel Tenenbaum had talked about. He noticed one not too far away and walked towards it. The Little Sister yawned again and said, "Goodnight, daddy." Sonic picked her up and placed his hand on her forehead. She smiled as she started to glow. It grew brighter and brighter, until there was a flash of light everywhere. When the light faded, the Little Sister had turned into a normal girl, her eyes weren't glowing, and her syringe was gone.

"Thank you, Mister." the girl said, with a normal girl voice. Sonic smiled as she hopped up to get inside the hole. "Sonic...? Sonic, it's me, Rachel!"

Thunder stared at the glass chamber for several moments. He couldn't stop staring at the scene in front of him. Rachel was tossing and turning in a bed. A blonde-haired woman with thick black glasses and blue eyes was at her bedside. She kept saying over and over again, "Soon, my daughter, you shall save Rapture." Thunder shivered. _That's not creepy, _he thought sarcastically. He raced off to Arcadia to go and tell Sonic.

Chapter Twelve:

Sonic looked around wildly. He felt confused as he looked for Rachel. "Rachel?" He practically cried. "Sonic, I'm here, in your head." "WHAT!?" Sonic yelled jumping back. _Have I gone crazy? _He wondered. "No! What I mean is that I can contact you through your mind! We have a connection that allows me to do that, and it's also because of the chaos energy in my body." Sonic was confused, but was happy to know that he could at least talk to her. He could hear her practically crying. "You have to help me," she whimpered, "I'm stuck in this quarantine chamber with Sofia Lamb! She's trying to torture me! Please, come and find me!" Sonic heard nothing else. His mind started racing about what she had just told him. He ran back down the hallways, somehow knowing where the chamber was.

Thunder bumped into Sonic as he ran towards him. "THUNDER!" Sonic yelled. "Sorry!" Thunder apologized. He started to say something, but Sonic took off before he could get three words out. "WAIT! I KNOW WHERE RACHEL IS!" Thunder shouted. "So do I!" Sonic replied. Thunder ran after him feeling depressed. He wanted to be the hero by telling Sonic where she was. He sighed as they ran to the chamber.

After several hallways and staircases, the quarantine chamber came into sight. Sonic ran faster as he got more excited. Thunder barely had to go any faster to keep up. Sonic ran up to the glass wall and watched Rachel tossing and turning, and a woman who must've been Sofia Lamb. She was staring at Rachel with hope in her eyes. She looked up and smiled at Sonic. Although, it wasn't a friendly smile.

"Hello, Sonic," she said with an eerie voice, "I know that you want her to be out there with you, but you can't have her. She will stay here in Rapture, and she will be able to make Rapture a paradise, because Eleanor never could. Now, you must have realized by now, that you and Rachel have a secret connection that allows her to contact you. Well, this connection stops now. Goodbye, Sonic." A siren went off as a huge screeching sound came from the distance. Sonic felt his head rattle from the sounds. Then, something that looked like a slender Big Daddy came running in. It was swift and stealthy as it rushed forward and jump kicked Sonic. He stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. Thunder got hit in the head with a pipe by something that was exactly the same way. He fell to the floor and closed his eyes, clearly unconscious. Sonic jumped up and tried to punch the machine, but it dodged just in time. He tried punching it again, and this time it worked. The machine fell onto the floor and onto an explosive canister. It screeched and burst into flames. Its red light went out as it lay motionless. Sonic did the same to the other one. He sighed, but felt a sharp pain in the back of his head as he was knocked out.

Sonic woke up in the hallway that led to the chamber. Sofia spoke again in the same tone of voice. "Sonic, I'm sorry that it had to come to this. But as you can see, you have met the Big Sisters. They shall help bring peace to this city. But right now, it appears that I will have to use the only thing I have left to get rid of you. The one connection that Rachel didn't know about. When her brain stops functioning, so does yours. When your lungs start failing, so do yours. When her heart stops beating, so does yours." She got up and took a pillow from off the floor. She placed it just above Rachel's face. "Forgive me Rachel," Sofia whispered. She slammed the pillow on Rachel's face as Rachel began screaming and struggling to escape. Sonic felt like there were elephants stomping on his chest. He found it very hard to breath. He started pounding on the glass as hard as he could, desperate to get to Rachel. The glass door slid open, and Sonic fell to his knees. He tried to reach out to her, but it was no use. He felt his body go limp as he fell to the floor, his heart failing. He was barely awake as he saw Rachel's body roll over the bed and land in front of his.

Chapter Thirteen:

Sonic's eyelids slowly drifted open. He was lying on a bed in a strange, brightly lit room. Thunder was groaning on the bed next to him. He was face down, his back strapped to the bed.

"This sucks," Sonic sighed. He didn't have enough strength to rip the straps off. "Well, it could be worse," Thunder chimed in, "we could've been humiliated by being turned into some kind of magical pony with wings and rainbows for hair and a rainbow mark on our rear end." Sonic glared at him to show that that didn't help the situation. Sonic listened closely as he heard Rachel's voice while Thunder kept saying, "Or we could've been turned into magical humans with scars on our foreheads. That would be horrible! Being a human or a pony must be AWFUL." Rachel started crying as Sonic listened intently. "Sonic, I- I'm SO sorry. I- I couldn't stop her, I-… Oh Sonic, I hope you're ok!" Sonic didn't say anything, but he thought to himself, _I'm fine Rachel. _Rachel said to him, "Good. Now, listen carefully. I managed to escape, and I found a Big Sister suit. I'm in it right now, and I'll be on my way." Sonic smiled. Thunder looked at him curiously. "How are you smiling? This isn't a good situation!" Sonic didn't reply. He acted like Thunder wasn't even there. All he could think about was the fact that soon he would be reunited with Rachel. _BOOM! _Sonic jolted as he saw a Big Sister running towards the room. He smiled as he saw her come racing inside. She took her helmet off and revealed that it was actually Rachel. She smiled, looking completely drained of energy. Her skin was pale, and it looked like she had just been crying. She ran forward and unstrapped Sonic, then Thunder. Sonic got up and ran over to Rachel. She smiled and knelt down to hug him.

"Come on," she whispered, "we have to go get Sally." _Sally? _Sonic wondered, _Who's Sally? _Then, he remembered that she was the Little Sister he was supposed to help. He nodded as Rachel put on the helmet and signaled for them to follow her out the door. The three of them ran down the hallways to a staircase that had about ten steps missing. Sally was humming as she danced around the top of them. She noticed Sonic and waved to him.

"Hi, Mr. Sonic! Daddy went to Heaven earlier, so I need a new daddy! Will you please help me out?" She looked at him hopefully. Sonic looked at Rachel, not sure of what to do. Rachel said, "She won't have you doing several tasks anymore. Tenenbaum knows that we're stretched for time, so she told Sally to only have you do one thing." Sonic looked back at Sally, smiled, and nodded. Sally giggled and said, "You'll always save me from the monsters!"

Sonic watched as Sally skipped away, and Sonic automatically followed. Rachel and Thunder followed close behind. _Why is he agreeing to this? I mean, he doesn't even know what she wants him to do! _Thunder thought angrily. Sonic followed Sally all the way to the golden hole in the wall. Sally stopped and turned to Sonic. "I don't want to play right now. Maybe in the morning! Will you tuck me in?" Sally asked. Sonic knew what he was supposed to do. He picked her up and placed his hand on her forehead. She glowed and flashed. Next thing Sonic knew, she was on the ground, brushing her dress off as she smiled at him.

Chapter Fourteen:

"Thank you so much, Mister," Sally said. She curtsied to him. "One second, sir, I have a gift from Miss. Tenenbaum." She grunted as she jumped up to the hole and she climbed inside of it. After a few brief minutes, she came back out with a red diamond clutched in her hand. Sonic smiled at her as he took it off her hands. She waved goodbye to them all. "Bye now!" The three of them waved back as a light consumed them.

Sonic found himself once again falling through the sky. He noticed a giant building below him that had beams that were made of marble. He closed his eyes as he came closer and closer to the ground.

Rachel woke up to a few faint voices that were whispering over her. She could hear them talking about how they thought she was dead. Her vision became a little more clear as their faces came into view. She grunted. The women stopped talking and became frozen as they stared at her in amazement. "Where- where am I?" Rachel asked. The brunette woman on the right said, "Athens, Greece. Well, to be a little more specific, my house." Rachel stared at them blankly. Athens? Rachel wondered whether it could be possible that she was in Athens when it was lost so many years ago. Although, she was in ancient Egypt not too long ago. It felt like a week ago when Cleopatra had healed her and given up one of the Chaos Emeralds.

Rachel stared at the women's clothing and realized that from their toga like dresses that perhaps she could be in ancient Athens. She looked around the house a little more and gasped as she noticed another bed to the left of her. On it, Sonic was lying there unconscious. "SONIC!" Rachel screamed. She shot up from the bed and rushed to his bed. She felt a little dizzy, but she didn't care. He was back in his regular form, but he didn't look too good. He had a small bump on his head and a few scrapes here and there. She started to cry slightly. She hoped that he was ok. "Yeesh, what's your problem? He's still alive! I mean, come on, he's survived every time this happens!" Rachel whirled around to see Thunder standing there, watching her. He felt angry that every time Sonic or Rachel was hurt, if the other was awake, they would run to each other's side, automatically assuming the worst. It made him sick. "Thunder!" Rachel exclaimed. She looked at him in confusion. Why was he so mad? Thunder watched as she looked at him helplessly, giving him a, _Is he really going to live? _look. Thunder simply grunted and walked away. Rachel turned back to Sonic feeling as though she had just lost everything. Rachel had seen Sonic risk his life several times, and yes, he did become unconscious a lot, but she hadn't seen him for awhile. The time that she had been with him on their last moments in Rapture had been very short. She felt him begin to shake as a voice whimpered, "Rachel… why do you always worry about me….?" Rachel laughed as her voice cracked. Sonic smiled weakly as he placed a hand on her face. "I missed you," he whispered. "I-…I MISSED YOU TOO!" Rachel screamed. She went into hysterics as she cried into his chest. Sonic rubbed her back and tried to calm her down. "It's ok Rachel… I missed you too…it's over, we're somewhere else now…" Sonic kept whispering in her ear as Thunder scowled at them from a distance.

Chapter Fifteen:

The three women looked around, clearly puzzled about what was going on. Sonic was still trying to calm Rachel down, even though she insisted that she was ok. Thunder got furious very fast after only one minute. He stomped over so loudly that the house shook and the women jumped back in fear. Sonic looked up at him curiously. Before any warning sign, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU TWO GOING TO DO THIS!? RACHEL SAID SHE WAS FINE, BUT NO! YOU'VE JUST GOT TO PROVE THAT YOU TWO ARE IN LOVE, DON'T YOU!?" Rachel stared at him, her eyes wide. Sonic glared at him, wanting to yell back at him saying, _Is that what you think this is about? Wow, you really are stupid! I mean, could you just at least have a little bit of courtesy! She's been through a lot and I'm not positive that she's not just saying things to keep me calm! Man, sometimes you're a real jerk! _But he didn't yell back because he didn't want Rachel to get even MORE upset. She already had new tears in her eyes from Thunder. Sonic looked at her in concern. He knew that she hated it when people yelled, even if it wasn't at her. Thunder stood there, glaring at Sonic in particular, but kept glancing at Rachel every once in a while. The three women started shaking with fear about all of the commotion. They kept whispering to each other, "shall we ask for Athena's help?" or "what is with these creatures?" or even "has Hades possessed these strange beings?" Sonic ignored all of their accusations as he crawled out of the bed. He mouthed to Thunder, _If you know what's good for you, you'll calm down and come with me. _Thunder growled, but gave a slight nod in return. Sonic whispered to Rachel, "I'll be back. Just stay calm and I'll be back inside soon." He looked at the women and added, "Oh, and apologize to them for Thunder's behavior." Rachel nodded and sniffed.

Sonic went out the door and into the sunlit courtyard. The beautiful gardens made Thunder feel sick. But Sonic went right in the middle and signaled for Thunder to follow him. Thunder wanted to shout, _Are you kidding!? Clearly both of us are ticked off, so this doesn't exactly fit the mood! _But he went over to Sonic and was prepared for an explosion. "Now, explain to me why you're treating Rachel like this?" Sonic started out. _Here we go, _Thunder thought. He grunted and replied, "It's not her in particular. It's _both _of you. The way you two are always so close and flirty." "But why does that bother you?" Sonic shot back. He wanted to know exactly why Thunder had been so short-tempered lately. There was a LONG silence. Sonic patiently waited for a reply, never taking his eyes off of Thunder. Thunder sighed and quietly replied, "Well, it's because… It's because I miss Tripsalot." Sonic's eyes widened. "Oh," he replied, "you mean your… wife?" "Yeah. That's the one." Sonic finally understood. The reason why Thunder hated it when Sonic and Rachel got so close was because he missed his wife. Sonic stared at the ground and whispered, "I understand… come on, let's go inside." Thunder stared at the ground too as he followed Sonic, neither of them looking at the other.

Rachel was still sobbing as she choked out the words, "I-I'm so s-sorry that h-he was acting like t-that." The women barely understood her, but felt sympathy for her. They tried to say things like, "oh, that's perfectly fine," or "oh, come on sweetheart, you'll be fine, there's nothing to apologize for!" But none of these things made Rachel feel any better. She had no idea what was going on with Thunder, they only had five days left to find the five remaining Chaos Emeralds, she had almost no idea what had caused them to go here, (she would've figured it out almost instantly if she wasn't upset) and all she wanted to do was have some alone time with Sonic. Sonic and Thunder walked in with their heads hung low. Rachel sprang up. Sonic looked at her glumly as she gave him a, _I need to talk to you, NOW _type of looks. Sonic nodded as she pulled him to a back room. Thunder kept staring at the floor, refusing to think about anything but the floor.

Rachel nearly threw him in the room. Sonic tumbled as she slammed the door. "What's going on Rachel…?" Sonic began. He couldn't finish his sentence because Rachel rushed forward and kissed him square on the lips, and she whispered, "All I want is to talk to you for a little bit and be alone with you." Sonic smiled and kissed her back.

Chapter Sixteen:

Thunder couldn't remember the last time that he had ever confessed to anyone his true feelings. He didn't even feel good about admitting them to Sonic. He figured that Sonic would think he's weak. He sighed as he stayed on the bed, his body laid out, face down. He didn't care about the women who were staring at him, their eyes wide, mouths gaped open. Thunder wanted to say, _Yeah, I'm a talking bird, and I yelled at my friends earlier, big deal! _He didn't dare look at them as the red-head whispered, "Should we get Zeus?" The blonde and the brunette nodded in agreement. Thunder simply curiously gazed at the door, wondering what was happening to Sonic and Rachel.

Sonic held Rachel close while she stayed pressed against him. She didn't care about where they were, or finding the Chaos Emerald. All she wanted was to spend time with Sonic, and that's all Sonic was thinking about too. He rubbed her back and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Rachel smiled and thought, _Why can't this last forever? _Sonic wanted it to last forever as well, but then he thought about how if he wasted too much time, he wouldn't find the five remaining Chaos Emeralds in five days. He looked at Rachel and said, "Look, I want to spend time with you, but if we waste more time, we won't find the emeralds in time, and I..," He cut off short, afraid to continue. He choked back the last words, terrified of saying what he was thinking. He didn't want to think about it. "Sonic..?" Rachel asked uncertainly. Sonic whispered, "I might l-lose you again." Rachel looked up at him sadly. She didn't want to lose him either. She barely managed to smile as she hugged him and whispered, "Ok, I understand…," Sonic got up and walked out just as the brunette woman took off at a sprint out of the house.

Knuckles felt sick to his stomach. He watched the horizon intently, hoping that Rachel would show up at any moment and say, _Sorry! I've just been busy lately, but I'll make up for lost time! _It had been three weeks since he had last seen her. The last time he had talked to her, she had told him that they were just friends, and that she would still see him every week. Well, the past two weeks, Rachel hadn't shown up. The first week, Knuckles had thought, _Oh, she's probably just busy! She'll show up within a few days! _But a week later, she still hadn't shown up. He had become really worried then, but he knew he couldn't leave. He paced back and forth nervously, worried out of his mind that something had happened to her. He was hoping that it was just some sick joke that Sonic had told her to do, but Rachel never agreed to that stuff. He just didn't want her to leave out of nowhere like his… He stopped as he thought about the painful memories of how he had witnessed his father die, and how everybody acted like nothing happened… it was all his fault. He shook his head as his eyes teared up. _No, _he thought urgently, _don't think about that. It's over. There's nothing you could've done. The same thing won't happen to Rachel. _

He heard a voice behind him say, "Ah, so you must be one of the hedgehog's closest friends." Knuckles turned around and gazed at the Master Emerald nervously. It looked as though there were flames inside of it, ready to burst out. Knuckles reached his hand out and gently touched it. "OW!" He yelled as he jumped back. The emerald was burning hot! Then, out of nowhere, an image of a fire bird appeared and said, "Now, you'll have to suffer." Knuckles couldn't react as the bird came out of the emerald and wrapped it wings around him as everything went black.

Chapter Seventeen:

"Hey!" Sonic shouted to her and ran to the door, confused about what was going on. He came to a stop quickly when he saw the woman talking very quickly to one of the guards. _Uh oh, _Sonic thought. He gulped as the guard looked in his direction and signaled other guards to come along. Sonic ran back inside and yelled, "WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Rachel immediately sprang up and ran towards the back door, knowing that whatever the danger was would be coming from the front. Thunder caught up to her, but when the two other women tried to follow him, Thunder scolded, "Not YOU!" Sonic ran up to Rachel and said, "The guards are after us. No doubt there are more than a hundred of them!" Thunder laughed and said, "When isn't there?" Sonic smiled as he picked Rachel up and sped off towards the end of the courtyard.

Thunder and Sonic ran to town, trying to avoid being seen before they arrived. But the guards already saw them, and they advanced on them. "Um, Sonic?" Thunder yelped urgently. Rachel screamed as a net came towards them and wrapped around the three of them.

Sonic's vision slowly started to focus again. He looked over and saw Thunder and Rachel were still unconscious. _Man, how many times is this going to happen in one journey? _Sonic wondered. The guards had gotten him out of the net, but his hands were tied behind his back by ropes. He struggled to break free, but it was no use. He sighed and glanced around the area. It looked like he was in some kind of temple. He stared straight ahead at a magnificent statue of a woman with a shield in one hand and what appeared to be a soldier in another. The entire thing was made of…ivory? Sonic tilted his head slightly, trying to figure it out. Rachel grunted beside him as she stirred around, slowly regaining consciousness. Thunder did the same to her left. Rachel looked up at the statue and gasped, her eyes starting to gleam. Sonic looked at her and whispered, "What is it? What is this statue of?" Rachel kept staring at the statue and replied, "I've heard about this! They say that in my world's time period (because Sonic's world takes place in like 3200 A.D.) the statue was stolen and never seen again!" "Yes, but who is it dedicated to?" Rachel looked at him like, _SERIOUSLY? You don't know who it is? Come on Sonic, I thought you were smarter than this! _"It's Athena!" She practically shouted. Thunder jumped nearby as the guards came in and closed in around them. One of the people, who looked like some kind of oracle, came forward and bowed her head in front of the statue.

"Please, Athena, goddess of war and pride," the priestess chanted, "come forward and give these beings their proper punishment!" Sonic and Thunder held their breath as the woman finished her speech, silence in the air, but Rachel remained calm. She knew that the oracle would simply start screaming out nonsense that the guards would try and interpret. But instead, the room began glowing with a strange light. Everyone in the room gasped as a figure started to appear in the light. Soon, a tall, golden woman with a shield and a sword appeared, a helmet on her head, a toga wrapped around her. Everyone jumped as she said, "So, you must be the blue hedgehog?"

Chapter Eighteen:

Everyone in the room began shaking with fear, too afraid to make a sound, but Sonic remained firm and replied, "Yes, that's me." The figure's glowing yellow eyes focused on him and said, "I know why you are here! You wish to have the treasure that was brought from a mysterious phoenix!" Sonic didn't find this information shocking at all, but he wondered, _How come every place we go to, somebody knows why I'm here? Is this phoenix inside of Thunder telling them? _The figure responded, "I am Athena, goddess of war and pride. I want you to welcome yourself here in Athens, but don't get too comfortable. Soon, you shall be doing tasks for me to get the emerald at the end of the day." She looked at Rachel, who began shaking out of control, afraid of what would happen. "You shall be kept apart from these two," Athena declared. Rachel gasped and Sonic shouted, "What!? No!" The guards came forward and took her by the arms. Rachel screamed and tried to get away, but it was no use. Sonic and Thunder tried to help her, but other guards held them back.

Rachel felt herself getting dizzy. She felt like she was in Rapture all over again, not sure of where she was going, when she was going to be with Sonic again, if she would see him again, if they would be ok… She felt herself become more and more frightened, more and more out of control of her mind and body. Soon, everything went black, and her eyes started gleaming as they always did when she used her powers. But this time, it wasn't on purpose. The guards yelled out as they levitated in midair, not sure of what was happening. "Uh oh," Sonic muttered. Thunder and Sonic knew exactly what was happening. This had happened several times before when Rachel first came back to life, unaware of her new abilities. Whenever she got really emotional to a point of no control, like happiness, sadness, or any other emotions, she couldn't control her powers, so they controlled her. It was happening now, and Sonic knew that he had to calm her down, right away. Since the guards were busy trying to attack her, Sonic was able to jump up and go towards her. But, soon, she was standing up, with rocks flying all around her. Some of the guards were getting hit, and Sonic watched them fly and hit the wall. From the looks of it, they were dead. Thunder jumped up to try and help also. He pecked Sonic's rope. Once he was free, Sonic ran forward, careful to dodge rocks as other guards died. The whole time, Thunder wondered why Athena wasn't helping out. She just stood there, watching intently.

Sonic made it to the center of the whirlwind, so he was safe. It was kind of like the eye of a tornado. He ran up to Rachel, but she didn't seem to see him. However, she had tears coming down her face. Her eyes were gleaming still. Sonic shook her and yelled, "Rachel! It's me, Sonic! Please, I'm right here, no one can separate us! They won't take you away! I'm not going to leave you! I love you!" The rocks slowed down, slowly coming to a stand-still on the ground. Her eyes returned to their greenish-yellow color as she went weak. She started to fall, but Sonic was there to catch her. "Sonic?" She whispered, still crying, "Is that really you?" "Yes, it's me Rachel," Sonic replied keeping her close, "They won't hurt you." "Sonic," Rachel muttered, refusing to look him in the eyes, "kill me. Kill me before I hurt anybody else… Or worse, you."

Chapter Nineteen:

"What!?" Sonic responded, his eyes wide, "Why would you say that!? Of course I won't kill you! We can fix this, you and I, ok? We don't know as much as we need to right now, but there's still time!" Rachel was crying really hard, but she wasn't letting out whimpers or looking at Sonic directly. Sonic looked at her anxiously, waiting for her reply. "I-I keep hurting people, Sonic, can't you see that?" she finally said.

"Yes, but…"

"BUT NOTHING! Look around!" Rachel yelled as she gestured to the dead soldiers all around the temple. She finally looked at him, determined to make her point before he could interrupt. But Sonic had no intention of interrupting. He wanted the whole story. "I have hurt so many people!" Rachel continued, never stuttering, "And I don't want to accidentally kill you one day because of what I've become!" Sonic could tell that she wasn't angry, just upset and concerned. All she wanted was to make sure that nobody else got hurt because of her.

"Rachel, you know that we might be able to find a way to fix it so that you can control it even when you're upset?" Rachel nodded, but knew that that could take quite a long time. Athena, who had been quiet the whole time, finally spoke up and said, "Your gift is amazing child, and I think I can help you control it." Rachel looked at Sonic and thought, _Gift? This isn't a gift, it's a curse!_

Sonic looked at Athena, wondering if she meant what she said or if it was a trap of some sort. She seemed like she meant it, but Sonic wasn't completely sure. The last thing he wanted was for Rachel to be used because of her powers. Thunder stood there, simply watching all three of them intently, wondering what was going to happen next. First, Rachel asked, "How? How exactly can I do that?" Athena smiled and replied, "I can teach you how I controlled my powers. It took longer than you think. I'm only trying to help." Sonic felt skeptical, but he decided to say nothing and let Rachel decide what to do. At first, she felt overwhelmed with the fact that her whole life could change if she learned how to control her powers, but it would also insure that Sonic and everyone else she cared about was safe. She nodded and asked, "When do we start?" Athena smiled. "We can start now. Oh, and don't worry about the bodies, they'll be taken care of." Rachel didn't even look at the bodies as she followed Athena out the door. Sonic felt himself getting angry at Athena for what she had done. She didn't care that many soldiers had just died for her. She didn't care that Rachel was under a lot of stress. All she cared about was herself.

Thunder walked over to Sonic and said, "If I were you, I would go after them." Sonic looked at him curiously. "I have a feeling that Athena is using Rachel to get rid of you." "Me?" Sonic replied. Why would Athena want to get rid of him? Thunder nodded. "The other people gave you the Chaos Emeralds they had because they are kind, even though the phoenix told them not to. Athena thinks that she's so powerful that she should get rid of you instead of offering you a chance. Rachel is an easy way to do that." Sonic finally understood the whole thing. Thunder had clearly paid attention carefully. Sonic nodded and raced off to make sure that Athena hadn't taken Rachel for good.

Rachel followed Athena all the way to an abandoned courtyard. Athena turned around to address Rachel. "You may find that when your emotions are very strong, you cannot tell what your mind wants to do. It is caught between what will save you, and what you want. This is what causes your powers to take control of you. They destroy both sides." Rachel nodded, understanding everything she was saying. "You must learn how to use your powers to do whichever one you want. So, to start out, you must be able to react quickly to do so. Let's start now." Athena pointed her sword at Rachel, and before she could react at all, a beam came from the sword and burst through Rachel.

Chapter Twenty:

Sonic ran to the spot where he last saw them. He arrived just as Athena shot a beam at Rachel. "NO!" Sonic ran to the courtyard as the beam hit Rachel. Rachel fell to the ground instantly. Sonic ran up to her. "Rachel! Rachel, can you hear me? Rachel, wake up!" Sonic shook her, but all she did was let out a faint groan. _Well, at least she's alive, _Sonic thought. Athena came over and stared down at them. Sonic glared up at her and said, "I can't believe how cruel you are." Rachel's eyes opened and she muttered, "Sonic, how many times do I have to go through this?" Sonic laughed and replied, "I hope not many more times." Athena chimed in and said, "You see, you are strong enough to survive it, you just couldn't block it, because you didn't react quick enough. We'll have to do this until you get it right-.." "No!" Sonic jumped up and stood between Athena and Rachel. Obviously, Athena laughed because Sonic was much smaller than her.

"Do you want her to control her powers or not? Last time I checked, this was about you anyways!" Athena yelled. Sonic didn't think of it that way. To him, it seemed like this whole thing was doing more harm than good. Rachel grunted, trying to get up. Sonic helped her up. She said, "Well, what do you want me to do now? Jump through rings of fire while defeating a ninja upside down?" Sonic laughed, but Athena glared at her. "If you wish for me to keep teaching you, then you will no longer mock me." Rachel nodded. Sonic watched nervously as she walked to the middle of the courtyard. Athena came over to her and said, "You must be able to react quicker. Your powers will start to take over you with no warning whatsoever." In a quick second, Athena grabbed a rock, threw it at Rachel and she dodged it just in time, the stone brushing the end of her hair. Athena smiled. "Good. It seems that you have gotten better. Now, we shall work on controlling your powers more easily. When you use your powers voluntarily, it hurts, doesn't it?" Rachel nodded. "It takes awhile, doesn't it?" Rachel nodded. "So, to fix this, you must use your powers more often. Here, levitate my sword after taking it out of my hands. Use only your powers." Athena stretched the arm with the sword out and waited for Rachel to take it. Rachel took a deep breath, then focused on the sword. She thought of the sword leaving Athena's hand and going up. Her eyes began to glow and the sword began to shake. Athena's hand involuntarily let go of the sword as it flew into the air. Rachel's body became weaker. She felt her mind struggling to keep it suspended.

The sword did a little sway, and then it dropped to the ground as Rachel fell on her knees, gasping for air. It felt like all of her energy had been used just to keep that sword in the air, and she didn't even do it for very long! Athena walked over to her sword and picked it up. "You must learn to only focus some of your energy onto your powers! Use all of it, and you won't be able to see what your enemies are doing! Now, let's see if you can keep your emotions under control." She walked over towards Sonic, leaving Rachel weak and panting. Sonic didn't see it coming at all. He was so focused on Rachel, that when Athena drew her sword and stabbed it through him, he had no idea what had just happened. Rachel screamed as he fell to the ground, his eyes rolled back.

Chapter Twenty-One

"SONIC!" Rachel ran over to him and started crying out of control. She had hoped that he would at least be breathing, but she couldn't feel his pulse. She felt herself losing control again, getting dizzy as she felt sadness that she had never felt before. The one person in her life who had given her so much, who had made her so happy, who had always been there for her, gone. She couldn't imagine life without Sonic. They had been together so long, it was almost hard to remember her life before she met him. She sat there, leaned over him, crying hysterically. She couldn't stand looking at his face. The wind began to kick up, and the trees began to shake wildly. Stones around the courtyard started lifting off the ground. Athena marveled at the amount of strength that was being used. This time was much more powerful than the last.

Rachel didn't care what was happening. She could only feel sorrow for what Athena had done. Athena. Rachel remembered that it was all Athena's fault that Sonic was laying there, his eyes rolled back, and not a single sound came from him. Rachel suddenly didn't feel as sad anymore. In a flash, she felt…furious. She stood up and faced Athena. She still couldn't control her powers, but she could feel her rage fueling it even more. She didn't attempt to stop it at all. She hoped that it would destroy Athena for good.

Athena felt scared for once. The power coming from Rachel was becoming way too strong, that not even she could stop it. She had no choice. She had to bring Sonic back to life. She ran over to his body, lifted her hand over his head, and put a glowing orb into his corpse. In an instant, Sonic's eyes rolled back forward and he blinked a few times before getting up. Athena yelled out to Rachel, "You see? He's fine now! Nothing to be upset over!" But Rachel didn't hear her. She didn't even care. What Athena had done was cruel, and she felt like she could just reverse it and it would be forgiven. To Rachel, that was the cruelest thing you could do.

Sonic got up and saw Rachel standing there, furious, upset, and unable to control anything around her. He saw Athena standing there, terrified. She was now unable to stop the massive chunks of stone that came flying at her. _SMACK! _The rocks hit her hard in the head first, and then in the arms and legs. Sonic ran up to try and calm Rachel as he did before, but this time was much crazier than the last. He ran up to her, and before Rachel knew what was happening, Sonic kissed her. Rachel felt herself let go of all of her previous feelings and just melt in his arms. She couldn't believe what was happening. She thought she was dreaming. How could Sonic have possibly been alive? The wind settled down, and the rocks stood still, but still suspended in midair. The joy she felt at the moment kept them up, and they raised higher and higher.

Athena kneeled over on the ground, scraped and bloody from the hits she took. She saw Sonic and Rachel together, and the rocks still suspended in the air. She was shaken from the event, but furious that somebody as foolish as a thirteen year old girl could possibly be more powerful than her. She wanted them both dead. She wanted to kill them to show that she was superior to mere mortals. Since they were still kissing, she had a perfect shot. She raised her sword, a light illuminating from it… she had a perfect aim… _WHAM!_

Thunder swooped down and punched her in the head. Sonic heard what was going on, so he opened his eyes, but he was careful not to move. He smiled as Thunder kicked her sword away. He kept kissing Rachel, making sure that she didn't become overwhelmed again. Thunder looked around and asked, "So, want to explain to me why there are rocks floating in midair, trees knocked down, and scrapes all over you, your _highness?" _Athena glared at him and said through gritted teeth, "Just consider yourself lucky that you have that phoenix inside of you, otherwise I would kill you too!"

"Man, you're in a killy mode today, aren't you? I mean, first Rachel, then Sonic, then almost Rachel and Sonic _again, _and now me? Yeesh, you need to calm down and stop being so murderous!"

Rachel pulled herself away from Sonic just a little bit. She smiled, tears running down her face. "Sonic…?" "Hey there, smarty," Sonic said, smiling back. He wiped the tears off her face. Thunder looked at them and joked, "Man, if I had a nickel for every time something like this happens where one of you two dies and then you two make out once you come back to life, I would be able to buy this whole city!" Rachel laughed and Sonic grinned as he rolled his eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Two:

Athena began shaking with rage. How could this possibly happen to her? She jumped up, and before anyone could react, she made the earth shake violently. Sonic held Rachel to keep her steady, and Thunder ran up to try and stop Athena. Thunder didn't really seem to notice the ground shaking. It didn't affect his running at all. He flew up and before she could react, he punched right in the head. The goddess staggered a little, then fell to the ground, dizzy from the impact of the hit. The ground stopped shaking slowly. Athena groaned as Sonic and Rachel ran over to see if she was still conscious. She was, but Thunder noted, "At least she can't kill anybody else now!" Sonic and Rachel laughed. Rachel smiled and added, "Well, her lessons did teach me how to use my powers better, but I think I'll practice them a little less violently." Sonic and Thunder grinned and gave each other a knuckle bump.

Sonic turned to Rachel and held out his fist. Rachel raised her eyebrows and said, "Really?" Sonic nodded, grinning. Rachel smiled and went to put her fist on his, but before they touched she made her fingers run up his arm as she yelled, "Sonic!" Sonic laughed harder than ever. He rolled on the floor laughing and Rachel jumped on top of him, but Thunder just stood there, staring at them. "What?" he asked, completely confused. Sonic tried to explain while laughing at the same time. "You know how… Ha ha! People usually turn their fist into an… Ha ha! Open hand before they do a knuckle bump and call it turkey?" Thunder nodded. "Well, Rachel did it so that… Ha ha! Her fingers ran up my arm and she said it was me…!" He cut off a bit short because Rachel kept making him laugh with funny faces. Thunder smiled slightly as he watched the two of them rolling the ground, completely care free.

Then, a slight humming sound came from behind him. His head crest feathers moved forward a little. He became more alert as the humming became louder. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed a glowing diamond floating over Athena, who was still knocked out. He ran over to it and noticed that it was green. He grabbed it and yelled to Rachel and Sonic, "It's another Chaos Emerald!" Sonic and Rachel looked up and stared at the glowing green diamond. The world around them started to fade as they fell once again. "Here we go!" Sonic shouted to Rachel. Rachel held onto him tight.

Rachel opened her eyes. She was floating, but she didn't see a town or anything. She saw Sonic and Thunder floating nearby, and both of them seemed to have no idea what was going on. There was a black cloud surrounding all of them, and Thunder yelled out in pain. Sonic and Rachel turned and looked at him. He started growing in size, his feathers catching on fire and his eyes into fire. The phoenix flapped its wings and said, "So, you have retrieved 3 Chaos Emeralds, huh?" Sonic nodded. "Well then, let me see them." Rachel took out the blue one she got from Cleopatra, and Sonic pulled out the red one he had gotten form Sally. The phoenix took out the one Thunder had and swooped all of them under his wing.

"Good. Well then, you are halfway through your journey, (well, about, because there really isn't half of seven in emeralds) and it appears you are making good time. You are heading into the fourth day of the trip, and you had better have the other four by the end of the week! And just as a reminder, I picked up a little something along the way." An hour glass slowly came into view. It was about halfway full of sand, and more sand slowly trickled from the top. Sonic and Rachel couldn't see what the significance of it was. Did it show how much time they had left? Then, slowly, a person came into view as well. They were inside the hourglass, but Sonic couldn't tell who it was yet. Rachel gasped and cried out, "Knuckles!" Sonic squinted and looked closer, realizing that it was Knuckles who was inside of the hourglass.

Sonic tried to call out to him, but Knuckles' eyes were closed and it didn't seem that he could hear Sonic. Sonic tried to go up and hit the glass, but an invisible force field stopped him. The phoenix laughed at him. "Well, you have four days left to find the 4 Chaos Emeralds! If you don't find it in time, Thunder will die, and your friend here will die as well. He will keep getting consumed by sand until he is completely gone. And not only that," he looked at Rachel, "but she will die too, along with your other friends, but I think she'll go first!" He started flapping his wings as the dark cloud disappeared and everything went white.

Chapter Twenty-Three:

A slight humming noise met Rachel's ears as she slowly woke up. The bright sun shone in her eyes as her lashes fluttered. Sonic moaned next to her as he yet again felt dizzy and confused. Rachel tried to remember what had just happened. The phoenix had just taken the three Chaos Emeralds and told them that they had four days to find the four remaining ones. He had shown them an hourglass that showed how much time that they had left and how long Knuckles would survive and… Knuckles. Rachel felt her eyes burning as she remembered how they had seen him unconscious, unable to react, totally helpless, sinking into the sand.

She started to sob as she rolled over on the steel ground. She didn't care where they were. She didn't care about finding out either. She wanted Knuckles to be ok… she wanted to return to Mobius with Sonic and be happy. She thought about how happy she had been so easily and how it had all come crashing down so quickly. The worst part was that whenever she tried to be positive, something else bad happened that instantly ruined it.

Meanwhile, Sonic got to his feet and looked around at the new world they were in. There were many airships flying around in the air, but it didn't appear that there were any roads. The "ground" they were on was actually one of many walkways that were stretched across the area. Giant glass skyscrapers rose up past what Sonic could see. It seemed that they were in some kind of techno-metropolis, but to Sonic it wasn't anything new. In fact, it just seemed like they were in Mobius. It seemed to be in the same time period. Sonic looked closely at one of the airships that flew by, but as he gazed at the driver's seat, it seemed like nobody was driving. But somehow, it was flying and steering just fine.

_Where are the people? _Sonic wondered. He didn't have time to dwell on it thought as he heard Rachel sobbing to his left. He ran to her side and asked what was wrong. She tried to tell him, but he couldn't understand her too well because she was crying so hard.

"He-he might not make it! What if-if we don't save him in time? We-we have to hurry!" Sonic hugged her and told her to calm down and that everything would be ok. "We'll save him in time. I promise." Thunder grunted and rose to his feet. He felt very confused and unable to remember what had happened. Sonic noticed him for the first time and called out, "Thunder!" Thunder saw him, but his vision was blurry, so his eyes couldn't focus. Sonic held Rachel's hand as he ran over to the dazed roadrunner.

"Wh-where are we? Wh-what happened?" Thunder muttered to Sonic while he tried to gain his balance. Sonic went to his side to make sure he didn't fall over. Rachel looked at him, unsure of what to do. There was something about him…that wasn't right, other than the fact that he was sick. He seemed like he knew that the phoenix was planning things all along, but he either didn't tell Sonic on purpose, or he was unable to.

"You know what the phoenix is doing, don't you?" Rachel stared at Thunder with determination. She was still crying slightly, but she had to know if Thunder had any idea what was coming. Thunder looked at her for a little while, his face scrunched up, as if he was trying to figure out who she was. When he finally seemed to figure it out, he replied, "Oh, yeah, I know what he's going to do." Sonic looked at him in shock and burst out, "YOU KNEW THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN!?" Thunder remained calm as if that wasn't supposed to be big news. "Yeah. He's going to have us see a girl with…." He stopped short, shock filing his eyes in an instant. He began shaking and muttering, "Yes. I know. I won't tell them. Yes, they won't know what is to come." Sonic looked at him suspiciously as Thunder shook and his head and gave a very fake laugh.

"I was just kidding. Nope, I don't know what that crazy fireball has planned! He's unpredictable!" He spoke so fast that Sonic barely caught every other word. Thunder's eyes darted around nervously, his mouth in a smile, but his eyes were full of worry. Rachel finally figured out that the phoenix did have control of Thunder. Thunder wanted to tell Sonic what was going on, but the phoenix kept holding him back. Sonic kept staring at him suspiciously as he said, "Well, we should probably look for the Chaos Emerald."

"Look!" Rachel pointed up to a large screen on a skyscraper that had a girl with long blue pigtails singing on a stage, glowsticks waving in front of her.

Chapter Twenty-Four:

"Who is that?" Thunder asked, puzzled by the video. The girl seemed to be some kind of singer in a concert. There were other people playing guitar and the drums on the stage too. Sonic couldn't understand what the girl was singing. It was in some other language, but the crowd seemed to understand every word. _Maybe in this world, they speak some other language more than English, _Sonic thought. Rachel could understand every few words, but she still wondered why the girl was singing in Japanese. Maybe that was the girl Thunder had been trying to tell them about, because when he looked at her closer, he began shaking and flapping his wings really hard.

Sonic looked at him and asked, "What is your deal?" Thunder still kept flapping his wings, his eyes wide. He pointed at the screen and started making noises through his beak. He ran around in circles, making squeaking sounds and trying to tell Sonic something. Sonic just stared at him and shook his head.

Thunder was becoming really frustrated. He wanted to tell Sonic that they had to find that girl who was on the screen, but the phoenix kept him from being able to say a word. He was hoping that Sonic would understand, but he clearly didn't because he had a puzzled look on his face.

Rachel knew that the phoenix was holding Thunder back from speaking. So, she used her powers to get into his thoughts and read them. She heard him thinking loudly, _You see that girl right there!? We have to find her because she can help us! _Rachel walked over to Sonic to explain what Thunder was saying. "He wants us to find that girl," She said pointing to the screen. Sonic looked at her with a surprised look on his face. "How do you know that?" He asked curiously. Rachel smiled and replied, "I have my ways." She kissed him on the cheek and added, "We should probably go and look for her." She looked at the screen closer and noticed it was taken about three hours ago. Rachel knew that she could be anywhere now, but they had to start looking somewhere.

As if reading her mind, Sonic yelled out, "Look over there! That's a good place to start!" Rachel looked and saw an area of the city that was destroyed and tumbled down. Thunder looked at the area skeptically and asked, "Why would she be there? There probably isn't anybody there!" "There isn't anybody here either!" Sonic pointed out. He was right. The whole city seemed to have disappeared. Yet, there had been people at the concert just three hours ago! It seemed like it had taken place over where Sonic had pointed, because there was stage right in the middle of it. If that was so, then there weren't any people there either, and that meant that there truly wasn't any people. But where had they all gone?

Sonic looked at the other two and asked, "Well, why are we standing around? We aren't going to get anywhere by just standing here! Let's go!" Thunder and Rachel nodded in agreement. Sonic picked up Rachel and headed to the other walkways. Thunder followed him as they jumped to all the walkways and finally got to their destination.

Sonic let Rachel back on her feet as Thunder slid beside him. The all looked at the scene in front of them. That part of the city had been burned and destroyed. There were abandoned warehouses all around them. Thunder walked forward before the others did. He listened closely and thought he heard the sound of a girl crying. "Hey Sonic," he called out, "I think I hear someone crying in this warehouse!" Sonic immediately ran to the warehouse and walked inside.

He saw a girl sitting on the floor with her face in her hands. She was the exact same girl that had been on the screen. She raised her head and looked at Sonic with her big blue eyes. She said, "I can't believe he took everyone! The kids, the adults, the musicians, everyone!"

Chapter Twenty-Five:

"What?" Sonic asked. She sniffled and replied, "Everyone was taken by some evil bird! He was big and he had fire feathers!" Sonic resisted the urge to yell out, _That's the bird we're looking for_! "Well, where were they?" "Well, there was a concert of mine that everyone was attending," she gestured to the destroyed stage, "and he tore the place apart and took everyone in sight! Luckily, I was able to hide in time before he saw me."

"Do you know why he was here?" Sonic asked. The girl shook her head. "No, but it did seem like he was looking for something!" "Is there any major power source in this city?" The girl tapped her finger on her chin as she pondered on it. "Well, there is the electricity beacon at the center of the city! It controls all the electricity use in the city." Sonic figured that that wasn't what he had wanted.

"Did you find any gems in this area recently?" The girl looked at him thoughtfully, tears still running down her face. "Well, I did find a purple one not too long ago. Is that what you mean?" Sonic nodded excitedly. "Do you have it with you?" The girl nodded. "Yep, but first, find the citizens, and then I'll give it back." Sonic nodded. As he headed towards the door, he turned around and asked, "By the way, what's your name?" The girl stood up and brushed off her dress.

"I'm Hatsune Miku. And you are Sonic the Hedgehog, right?" Sonic grinned. "That's me! Hang tight here while I go look for the people!" And with that, he ran off out the door.

Rachel waited outside with Thunder while Sonic talked to the crying girl. Thunder was staring at Rachel with deep concentration. He couldn't put his talons on it, but he felt that he was somehow… connected to her. He felt as though he was close to her and that she was somehow the key to finding out how to stop Fiery, the phoenix. He walked closer to her nervously.

"Uh, Rachel, I don't know what it is, but I feel like I need to be close to you-…" "What!?" Rachel shrieked. Thunder's eyes went wide. He started out the wrong way. "No, no, that's not what I mean! What I'm saying is that I feel connected to you, but I'm not in love with you!" "Oh," Rachel sighed, "I thought that's what you meant, because that would be awkward for both of us. I felt the same way, and I know why. I'm connected to Fiery." "What?" Thunder jumped as Sonic walked out.

"What did you say?" Rachel felt herself feeling guilty. She hadn't told him what she knew about what Eggman had done to her. She sighed and explained what she knew about what had happened. "You know how Eggman gave me something to make me come back to life? Well, it not only gives me tons of new abilities, it also makes me connected to all of the emeralds in your world. The Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald, all of them. Since Fiery is a guardian of the emeralds, I am connected to him too. I'm also connected to the Brotherhood of Guardians on Angel Island." (That's what Knuckles is a part of… Well, it doesn't exist anymore, but oh well.)

"But Rachel, why didn't you tell me this? I mean, you told Thunder just now, but why not me? And how long have you known?" Rachel told him that she had looked into it since she first had her occurrences. She had figured it out in about 2 weeks. She hadn't told him because she didn't want to worry him. She had told Thunder because Fiery was inside of him. But Sonic still felt betrayed. How could she have not told him something this important?

"Well, I'm sure you have your reasons," he said, but he still didn't like the fact. "Well, I talk to you about it later, but right now I have to find the citizens." Rachel nodded feeling really guilty. Thunder didn't dare look at Sonic but he could feel him glaring at him. Sonic ran off without another word.

Chapter Twenty-Six:

Thunder walked into the warehouse to find Hatsune Miku standing there looking around the place. She seemed confused as to why the whole thing had happened. She kept muttering to herself, "Why would he do this?" and "What happened to those people?" Thunder walked forward and cleared his throat loudly. Miku turned towards him and stared at him. She tilted her head slightly, deep in concentration. She seemed to be making up her mind about whether Thunder could be trusted or not.

"Um, are you Thunder?" she asked timidly. Thunder cringed slightly as he took a step backwards. She sounded kind of like a robot, and she looked like one a little bit. "Uh…yeah," he replied cautiously. Thunder wasn't someone who liked to take risks a lot. He preferred to plan things out. If she was a robot, she could be bad or good. But, according to Thunder's experience, she was most likely bad. They stared at each other curiously as they both stood in silence.

Then, the silence was abruptly broken when Rachel walked in as her boots made a _clank, clank, clank. _Thunder and Miku turned towards her quickly, determined to get rid of the awkwardness. Miku did a happy squeal as Rachel approached. Thunder cringed again and thought, _This girl is going to be trouble. _Miku ran over to Rachel and quickly asked, "Are you Rachel?"

Rachel nodded, instantly realizing that she had a techno voice, but Rachel didn't care. Miku smiled and replied, "I'm Hatsune Miku! My friends and fans call me the 'World's Techno Diva.'" She giggled again, "But calling me Miku is fine!" Rachel smiled back and said, "Pleased to meet you!" Thunder stared at them and sighed. _Why did Sonic have to leave me with a pair of girls? _He thought angrily.

Miku and Rachel talked for awhile and laughed a little too. Rachel talked about her world and how things weren't going so well there. Miku talked about the world she lived in, and how she used to live in a world similar to Rachel's. Thunder merely sat down and covered his feathers over his feet. He laid his head down figuring that it would be a long while before Sonic came back or forgave him.

Sonic ran as far away from the warehouse as fast as he could. This time, he was mad at Rachel for telling Thunder about what was going on before him. He didn't understand why Rachel didn't seem to trust him about what was going on with her. When she found out that Knuckles was hurt, she seemed more upset than he had expected. Yes, she had a crush on him, but… it seemed like there was more to it. He suddenly remembered that before this whole thing had happened, Rachel had gone to see Knuckles, but she didn't say what it was about. He began to think so hard about it, that he almost ran into a building at top speed. He quickly moved out of the way and continued on, curious as to what had happened between Rachel and Knuckles.

"Well, do you have any idea where the people could have gone?" Miku shook her head. "Nope. The phoenix just took them and vanished out of thin air." "Well, they must have gone _somewhere!_" Rachel insisted. Miku nodded in agreement. "Yes, but the question is, where?" Rachel sat down and hugged her knees as she thought about it. Miku did the same, but she looked to the sky instead. She stared at a glowing tower in the center of the city. She smiled.

"That tower is so pretty at night time," she claimed dreamily. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at its lights. Rachel looked up at it too. "Oh really?" "Yep. The whole tower glows up and you can see it from miles away. It's too bad it's day time, otherwise you could see it too. I always look up at it when I feel like there is nothing but darkness." Rachel stared at it and thought, _A glowing tower at the center of the city? That's it! _She jumped up excitedly and yelled, "I know where the citizens are!"

Chapter Twenty-Seven:

Sonic looked for what felt like hours for any sign of any of the citizens. He had looked at nearly every spot in the whole city. He sighed, giving up on trying any new spots. He was distracted by his thoughts earlier and couldn't stop thinking about it. He decided to run back to the warehouse to confront Rachel about it. He turned around and headed off to the ruined part of the city.

"You do?" Miku asked excitedly, jumping up. Rachel nodded, grinning happily. Thunder put his head up and paid closer attention to their conversation. "They're at that tower!" Rachel said pointing to the giant building. "How do you know?" Miku asked, totally confused. "I mean, Battery City is a big place! That bird could've gone anywhere!" "Yes, but that tower is the tallest place here! It's like a beacon because of its height and its power over the electricity. It's the only place that Fiery could ever possibly have enough power to hide all those people!"

Miku thought about it for a while, and then nodded, figuring that it made enough sense to be a reasonable solution. Thunder spoke up for the first time. "It's seems to be a good solution, but what about the fact that Sonic is right there?" Rachel and Miku turned at the same time and saw Sonic standing in the doorway. He didn't look too happy to Rachel.

"Did you find anything?" Miku asked hopefully. Sonic shook his head. "No. I'm sorry." Miku frowned and stared at her shoes, nodding slightly. Sonic looked at Rachel. He mouthed to her, _I need to talk to you, now. _Rachel went pale as she nodded and walked to the door. She followed him outside as he walked away. Rachel stared at her feet, afraid to look him in the eyes. She knew what was coming. She knew he was mad at her. She took a deep breath and waited for him to speak.

He faced her and asked calmly, "What happened between you and Knuckles the last time you two met?" Rachel still didn't look at him. She just stared at the ground. She could feel him getting closer to her. She turned away and replied, "I can't tell you." Sonic felt a slight flame inside of him get bigger and bigger. She was avoiding answering him. She was keeping secrets. When she didn't give an explanation, he burst out, "Oh, can you tell Thunder? Is that who you could tell?" Rachel bit her bottom lip, still refusing to look him in the eyes. He waited for her to respond, fuming with anger.

Finally, after a long silence she whispered, "Knuckles and I broke up. We agreed that we would just be friends. He didn't like it, I could tell, so when Fiery took him, I felt guilty because he probably got captured because he was focused on me." Sonic felt himself go numb. He could only mutter, "Oh." All this time, she had broken up with Knuckles just before she disappeared out of sight? _Man, that would suck to be him! _Sonic thought. He could imagine being where Knuckles was at the time. He had to find out in only a little bit of time that Rachel broke up with him, and then she was gone, which probably made him worried, and then he had to fight for his own life!

Sonic didn't say another word as they both stood there in silence. He felt like a total jerk for giving her such a hard time. He wanted to make it up to her as soon as possible. He walked over to the warehouse and turned around at the doorway he looked at her back and said, "I'm sorry." He walked inside, leaving Rachel standing there, looking at the ground. She hadn't looked at Sonic the whole time.

Chapter Twenty-Eight:

Thunder watched the doorway closely. He heard Sonic and Rachel arguing about something. He didn't want to interrupt them, but it still seemed like he should do something. He couldn't imagine what would happen if Sonic and Rachel broke up. He shivered slightly as he thought about it. Miku sat in the back, pulling on her long pigtails a little. She hummed a song to herself and looked out of the shattered window.

Thunder felt himself getting worried as Sonic raised his voice a little more. Thunder could only make out part of what he said. It had something to do with him, that much was certain. Thunder waited for Rachel's response, but there was long, thick silence that you could cut with a knife. Thunder heard Rachel saying something, but he couldn't tell what she was saying. There was another long silence. Thunder heard Sonic's footsteps as he walked to the doorway. Thunder looked the other way as Sonic said, "I'm sorry."

Miku looked up at him as her bottom lip quivered. Sonic stared at his shoes as he walked past her. Thunder didn't dare look at him, because he already knew what Sonic felt. Sonic sat down and hugged his knees. He rested his chin on his knees and frowned at the floor.

Rachel stood in the exact same place for several moments. She felt horrible that Knuckles was caught up in this whole thing because of her. She didn't want to be upset anymore. She wanted to be happy, like the day she went on her first date with Sonic. She had been so happy. She remembered how that was the day she had stopped aging. The happiest moment of her life. She wanted to feel that happiness again, but because of what was going on, it felt as though she'd never be happy. Now, on top of all of that, Sonic was mad at her, which was the worst feeling she ever had.

She wanted everything to be over so that things could go back to the way they were. She wanted things to be normal. She gazed up at the tower and suddenly realized that she hadn't told Sonic about the tower! She bolted into the warehouse and yelled out, "You have to go to the tower, Sonic! That's where all the people are being kept!" Sonic didn't look at her, but nodded and replied, "Ok, I'll head over there now." He turned towards Miku.

"I'll come back once I have the citizens, ok?" Miku nodded and watched as Sonic ran out the door. Rachel sat down beside her and looked at the shattered window. She smiled to herself as she remembered when the window at her house had broken when Sonic turned into a werehog. She never got around to fixing it while she was on Earth. Had her parents fixed it yet? _Probably, _she thought as she giggled slightly, _my mom would never allow it to be broken for that long! She would've noticed it by now! _Miku looked at Rachel and smiled.

"You know, this world isn't that bad if all the people were here!" she joked. Rachel laughed along with her as Thunder got up and walked to the front door. He watched Sonic jump up the tower. Thunder felt himself go weak. He felt like he had to go to the tower. His vision started going blurry and he felt a voice whisper to him, "I shall take over for now." Thunder fell unconscious. The girls looked at him. Miku shrieked while Rachel ran over to him. She knelt by his body and noticed a small flame rising up out of him. It grew bigger, and suddenly burst towards the tower. "Fiery," Rachel whispered to herself.

Sonic reached the top of the tower in no time. He went into the main room on the top and searched around for any sign of people. He looked in every room and thought about giving up when they were all filled with useless supplies or empty. He sighed as he turned the knob of the last door. He carefully opened it and peeked inside. He thought about closing it at first, until he heard a muffled scream come from inside. He opened it a little more and noticed a pair of eyes staring desperately at him. He opened it all the way and found at least twenty people tied up and gagged, all of them huddled together. Sonic reached down to try and untie the first person.

_BOOM! _Sonic spun around as the window shattered into hundreds of pieces. He saw a big flame floating in the middle of the room. Suddenly, it started forming into something. It grew wings and eyes and talons all at the same time. Sonic grunted and whispered, "Fiery."

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Rachel saw the fireball go crashing into the tower's main room at the top. She gasped as fire spread throughout the entire place. She prayed inside her head that Sonic was ok. Miku ran up and followed Rachel's gaze to the top of the tower. She screamed when she noticed the flames bursting out of the top. Rachel stared helplessly at the burning building. What could she do to stop it? Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. What if she used her powers to stop the flames from spreading? She smiled brightly as she ran to the tower, Miku calling out to her, "Rachel, what are you doing? Come back! You'll get hurt!" But Rachel didn't care. She had to help Sonic, no matter what was going on between them.

Sonic glared at the giant fire bird as it flapped its wings slowly. They made loud thunderous noises as they went up and down, up and down. Fiery laughed and spoke deeply. "I see you have found where I put these people. Clever, but I believe it was your girlfriend who figured it out. Also, I saw that you two had a little argument. Such a shame. You two made such a nice couple… but I guess she'll move on." Sonic balled his hands into fists as he clenched his teeth together so badly that it hurt, but he didn't care. He had to stop himself from doing anything stupid.

"Right now, I think it's time to end this little search. I already know where all the Chaos Emeralds are, so I don't see why I should keep you or your friends alive. Once I get the emeralds back, I'll destroy Mobius to ensure that nobody ever abuses the power of the emeralds ever again. Oh, and by the way, the only reason I had you search for them was to put you through pain and suffering." Sonic's mouth gaped open and his hands went weak. Fiery knew where the emeralds were, and all he wanted was for Sonic and his friends to suffer?

_Well, of course! _Sonic thought, _Fiery was sending us to these places for a reason: he knew where they were! He just wanted me to suffer for losing them. _"But right now, I think I shall kill everyone in this tower and that's down there." He nodded his head towards the warehouse. Sonic braced himself as Fiery began spitting out flames that started to burn the tower faster than paper. Sonic had no idea what to do. He had to save all of the people before the tower was consumed. He ran to the door and started to help people out. Suddenly, a light came in through the window and transformed into a girl with knight armor.

Rachel went to the base of the tower and started to concentrate on the flames. Her eyes glowed and she started to see the fire head backwards. Miku ran beside her and asked, "Can I help?" At first, Rachel didn't think she could, but then she said, "Go and help Sonic in any way you can!" Miku nodded and pulled out a small digital device. Rachel didn't ask what it was. Miku whispered into it and closed her eyes. The device pulled up a small screen that said something in Japanese. Miku began to glow as the device hummed slightly. She glowed brightly, turned around in circles and turned into a knight. She held her sword high and turned into an orb of light and disappeared.

Chapter Thirty:

Sonic stared at the girl with wide eyes. She was glowing brightly as she held her sword up high. She turned and smiled at Sonic. She winked, and Sonic then knew that it was Miku. She pointed the sword at Fiery. A small light started to shine from the end of it. It grew larger and larger, the room growing brighter and the flames extinguishing all around Sonic. Fiery flapped his wings and tried to fly out of the way, but Miku had already started to launch the beam at him. Fiery couldn't dodge in time. He flew backwards in to the back wall of the room. All of the flames instantly went out. Miku threw her Chaos Emerald at Sonic and yelled, "Take it and run with Rachel! I'll hold this crazy bird back so that you can get out safely."

Sonic nodded as he took off with the purple gem. He jumped out of the tower and landed on the ground. He found Rachel kneeling on the ground by the base of the building. He grabbed her arm and they saw the world around them glowing. He looked up and saw Miku knocking Fiery to the ground below. She looked at him and smiled and waved.

Sonic saw clouds rushing past him for the fifth time. He saw a city that was made of…rock? It came closer and closer as he fell unconscious again.

Sonic felt his eyes open, but his head felt completely numb. This was the fifth time he and the others had time traveled and switched locations. He stared at the ground in front of him. He got up and looked around, noticing that there was nothing but rock around them. He looked over to his left and saw Rachel sitting up. She had her legs crossed and she looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep in awhile. He searched around for Thunder, but he was nowhere to be found.

As if reading his mind, Rachel said, "He's not here." Sonic didn't look at her, but asked, "Why not?" "Because Miku is still fighting Fiery. Since Fiery is using Thunder to transform, it may be awhile until he comes back." Sonic felt himself have a feeling he had never thought he'd feel again. He felt…upset at himself. He felt like a letdown for Rachel. He wanted things to be back to the way they were. He wanted to be able to talk to her without feeling upset.

Rachel felt the same way. All she wanted was to be with Sonic, to be happy with him. She wanted to make things ok between them. But she knew that things may never be the same. How could she have been so stupid? Why hadn't she told him? She started to get up when a little girl came up behind her and asked, "Who are you?" Rachel jumped forward and almost tripped. She hadn't been able to see her coming because she had been so distracted. Sonic looked at the girl curiously.

The girl had short black hair, and for some reason, she didn't look at Rachel. She had a headband on but Rachel noticed that she had no shoes or socks on her feet. Her feet were covered in dirt, and her clothes were green and brown with dirt all over.

"Um, I'm Rachel." She replied, with uncertainty. Who was this girl? The girl never looked up but said, "How did you get here?" Rachel couldn't even begin to explain that answer. From what this girl looked like, it seemed like she would have no idea what Rachel was talking about. So, Rachel just said, "I don't know." Sonic looked at the girl and wondered why she still wouldn't look at Rachel. He walked over to her side and tapped her shoulder. She turned her head towards him. He looked into her eyes and saw that they were misty colored and wide. As she stood there, she didn't blink, even after about 30 seconds. Sonic gasped and fell back. Rachel didn't pay attention to him.

She walked over to the side that Sonic was looking at and crouched down to look at the girl's face (her head was about where the bottom of Rachel's neck was). Rachel studied her face, her expression staying calm. "What's your name?" Rachel asked. The girl didn't move at all, except for her mouth when she said, "Toph." "Where are we?" "Omashu, in the Earth Kingdom." Rachel pointed towards the city of rock. "Is that Omashu?" "Where?" Rachel turned Toph in that direction. She stood still for a moment, and then said, "Yep. That's the place."

Sonic couldn't believe what was happening. Toph didn't seem to know where anything was, but she still knew what they were. Sonic walked over to her and asked, "You're blind, aren't you?"

Chapter Thirty-One:

Toph nodded as if she didn't really see the difference in being blind. Rachel glared at Sonic for being rude. Sonic tried to make up for it by saying, "I mean, not that it's a bad thing, I was just curious." Toph shrugged and replied, "It's ok. I don't care anymore." He stared at the ground nervously and asked oddly, "So, could you help us find a certain gem that may have fallen nearby?" Toph stood still for a moment. Then, after a long silence, she said, "I think Katara might know about it. Follow me." She walked away from the city and headed towards the canyons. Sonic and Rachel followed her without saying anything. They stayed a little ways apart from each other as they kept their heads down.

Finally, as they entered a valley in between two walls of rock, Sonic and Rachel began to see a small pond surrounded by cattails. The sun left a bright reflection on the water's tiny ripples. Rachel gazed at it, totally breathless. She stopped to stare at it, unaware that Sonic had stopped right next to her to stare too. They stood there for a moment, side-by-side. Rachel finally let go of her gaze and noticed Sonic standing next to her. She blushed as he noticed her too. She looked away from him. Sonic reached out his hand and slipped it into Rachel's. Rachel felt her face get warm but she still couldn't bear to look at him. A single tear rolled off of her left cheek. She bit her lip to stop herself. She couldn't think about her relationship with anyone right now. She slipped her hand away from Sonic and quickly jogged over to Toph, who had gone all the way to the pond's edge. Sonic looked after her feeling as though she didn't even exist anymore. She didn't want him anymore, that much was clear. He dragged his feet and hung his head as he walked to the other side of Toph.

Toph called out loudly, "Katara! You still here?" Her voice echoed throughout the valley, growing softer and softer as it went. Sonic and Rachel waited for an answer. Suddenly, a voice came echoing back that yelled, "I'm over here, Toph!" A girl with black braided hair and blue clothes came rushing over to them. She stopped dead at the sight of Sonic and Rachel. She stared at them for a moment. She never moved her eyes off of them as she asked, "Toph, who are these people?" Toph gestured towards Rachel and said, "This is Rachel, but I don't know who the short one is." Rachel thought hard for a moment. If Toph was blind, how did she know that Sonic was short and where Rachel was standing?

Katara bowed slightly and said, "I'm Katara. So, what is the short one's name?" Sonic glared at her. He hated always being referred to as short in other worlds (because everyone except for a few people in Mobius are all Sonic's height). "I'm Sonic," He replied, "and I don't have much time. I need to find an emerald that may have fallen in this area." Rachel felt a sudden twinge of…what was it? Pain? Betrayal? Whatever she felt it was because of Sonic only saying "I". But she knew it was partially her fault, but it still hurt. She sighed. Katara thought for a moment before replying, "Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. But, sadly, the Fire Nation got a hold of it. But, they're around this area, so we can check it out!" Sonic nodded in agreement. Katara looked at Rachel and asked, "Do you think we should go?" Rachel looked at her glumly and nodded.

"I'll come too," Toph volunteered, "You might need help if we get into a fight." Rachel and Sonic looked at her, confused. But neither of them said anything as they followed the girls to the other side of the valley.

The four of them reached the end of the valley where a small camp was set up with metal machines surrounding it. Katara signaled for the others to stop. They crouched behind a rock and watched the camp carefully. "Ok, the emerald is in one of those machines," Katara whispered, "We just have to figure out which-…" _BOOM! _A huge rock hit the ground right in front of them. "They spotted us!" she yelled as another rock came hurdling towards them. Toph then jumped over their hiding spot, ran forward and punched the rock, which shattered into tiny pieces.

Chapter Thirty-Two:

Sonic stared at her in disbelief. How did Toph see that rock coming? How did she smash it? As another rock came flying towards them, Katara ran up and opened a small flask on her waist. She made the water inside levitate out of it, and she used it to cut the rock in two. Now Sonic was really confused. How were they doing these incredible things? Rachel screamed suddenly. Sonic looked over and saw a giant rock coming towards her. Katara and Toph didn't see it, so Sonic ran forward and pushed Rachel out of the way. He landed on top of her as they narrowly missed the stone. Rachel started to breath heavily after almost being crushed. Sonic sighed deeply with relief that they had escaped. He suddenly realized that they were on top of each other, and blushed. Rachel noticed it too and drew back slightly. But before she could get away from him, he kissed her. She looked at him in shock. It felt strange to her, being that close to him after their awkward confrontations, but it still felt kind of good.

It felt as if nothing was going on around them, until Toph yelled, "Hey, could use a little help over here!" Sonic jumped off of Rachel and looked over the cover. He grinned and grabbed Rachel's hand. "So, you want to go over there and help out, get the emerald and get home faster?" Rachel smiled back and nodded. Sonic jumped up and ran past all of the flying boulders, carrying Rachel. They ran to the first machine and opened the lid to see if the emerald was in there. Seeing that it was deserted, Sonic jumped inside and searched around for a little while. Seeing that there was no emerald, he came out and shook his head at Rachel.

As they ran to the second one, the ground started shaking violently. Sonic and Rachel stopped dead in their tracks and saw the other machines moving forward and away from the others. At first, Sonic started to go after them, but Katara yelled out to him, "It's no use! You won't be able to defeat all of them. We should wait here for a little while." Sonic grunted and nodded. He picked up Rachel and ran after the other girls.

Once they were all back in the valley, Sonic immediately asked, "How were you two doing that!?" "What? Doing what?" Katara asked, puzzled.

"Moving that water! And those rocks!" "Oh, well, come with us, and we'll explain."

Chapter Thirty-Three:

Katara explained that her and Toph were people known as "benders". Katara was a waterbender and Toph was an earthbender. Toph was able to move rocks and metal whenever she wanted (she was also a metalbender), and she had the unique ability to feel vibrations in the ground. That's why she could tell where things were. But she could only tell on solid ground.

Katara could move water any way she wanted, and she could also change the temper of water to make freeze or heat up. She could also control people by moving their blood. Sonic and Rachel listened intently, fascinated by everything they had to say.

They were both sitting together, holding hands. It seemed as though they had gotten back together to Sonic, but to Rachel, she was still debating with herself in her mind. Who was the one she truly wanted… or did she have to live with both? She couldn't imagine life without one of them. When they were both in her world, it seemed like she didn't have to choose, but now…

"Rachel? You still there?" Sonic shook her slightly. Rachel gasped quietly. She had no idea what had been going on… She had been so caught up in her thoughts. Katara and Sonic were looking at her with concern. Toph was still staring at the ground, considering there was no point in looking up for her. Rachel looked at them sheepishly and said, "I'm fine. I'm just… tired, that's all." Unconvinced, but still going along with it, Sonic nodded and turned back towards Katara.

"So, for these Fire Nation guys think that they are better than the rest of the world, right?" Katara nodded. "Yes. And now it appears that they have this emerald you are looking for. It looks like they were really determined to keep it from you two."

"So, how can we get it back?" Rachel asked determinedly. Toph replied, "We'll have to catch up with them and destroy all of them that are there. It's the only way." Sonic grinned and stood up. "So, when can we go after them?"

Dust clouds rose up into the blue, cloudless sky as loud rumbles and small footsteps echoed through the desert. Rachel's hair blew all over the place as the wind seemed to rush past, almost in shock at the speed she was going. Two giant rock hills jerked back and forth, leaving giant drenches beside her. Sonic kissed her lightly on the cheek and whispered, "I'll always love you Rachel, no matter what." Rachel rested her head on his chest and said, "I will too. No matter what."

"We're almost there! I can see the machines just up ahead!" Katara shouted. Sonic nodded. He ran faster, picking up more and more dust behind them. He kept a firm grasp on Rachel as Katara balanced on Toph's earth mounds as they moved them forward.

The machines came closer and closer into view. They got bigger and bigger, and Rachel felt like she could've reached out and grabbed them. "Are you sure this is going to work?" Rachel asked skeptically. Sonic grinned at her and replied, "Come on. We make a great team! How can we possibly fail?"

Rachel giggled and said, "I hope you're right." The four of them rushed forward, full of anticipation in hopes of retrieving the Chaos Emerald. Sonic skidded to a "jog" beside the side of the machine. He pushed Rachel to the top of it and jumped up to her side. They grabbed the edge of the lid on top and tried as hard as they could to open it. After several moments of forceful pulling, the door came open with a loud _CREAK. _They smiled at each other and Sonic yelled, "Hey Toph! It's time to get a good grip on this thing! Once Rachel and I get out, crush this sucker!" Toph nodded and started running alongside the machine. She cracked her knuckles all at once, took a deep breath, and clung onto the metal. She forced her feet onto the ground as they brought up dust. She grimaced in pain as the machine slowly started slowing down. The metal wrinkled under her hands as if it were paper.

Sonic and Rachel hopped inside to look for the emerald. Sonic began moving aside boxes and looking in the compartments. Rachel searched around to see if anybody was around. Someone HAD to be controlling that thing. She cautiously moved to the front room as Sonic threw a box behind him. _BONK! _"Ow! Can you _please _watch where you're throwing?"

"Sorry Rachel!" She rubbed her head and walked forward. She heard a slight clanking sound coming from in front of her. She stopped in surprise. She gulped and slowly made her way forward….ever so quietly…so close…

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Sonic spun around in alarm. "Rachel?" He dashed forward and moved aside the boxes. He stopped at the front chamber and looked around carefully. He couldn't see any signs of Rachel. "Rachel? You there?" He looked around a little more in hopes of finding some kind of clue as to where Rachel could be. He turned around and gasped as fiery red flames came lunging towards him. He did a limbo bend back and narrowly missed the fire. He could feel the intense heat beating down on his face. He started sweating under the hot temperatures. He waited until the flames dimmed before he jumped up and looked around in confusion. Where had that come from?

He stared off in the direction of the fire, but he couldn't see anything. "Sonic!" Rachel screamed as loud as she could, but her voice was quickly muffled. Another stream of fire started barreling towards him, but he dodged to the left and rushed forward quickly. He suddenly ran into an armored guy with a skull type of mask. _Man, what is this, some kind of horror movie? _Sonic wondered.

The soldier pushed his palm forward and sent another fireball at Sonic. Sonic quickly dodged it and wondered, _Is this one of the firebenders Katara was talking about? _He ran up and swept his feet out from under him. The soldier fell down and groaned as Sonic kicked his head to the ground. The man instantly became unconscious. Sonic heard muffled yells coming from nearby.

He crouched down and found Rachel squirming around on the floor with her mouth tied shut and her hands behind her back. He reached over and untied her quickly. She gasped for breath and rubbed her wrists. "Thanks," she said briefly. "Don't mention it. Did you see the Chaos Emerald? I couldn't find it in the back." Rachel shook her head. He sighed. "Oh well. I guess it's not here. We should get out of here. I bet Toph's eager to smash this thing!" Rachel laughed and let him carry her to the top.

Chapter Thirty-Four:

"All right Toph! Rip this thing apart!" Toph grinned and nodded enthusiastically. Sonic leaped off of the machine, carefully keeping Rachel in his arms. Toph tightened her grip on the metal and began to pull it effortlessly. The metal tore back under her strength. Loud metallic sounds filled the air. Toph's jaw tightened as she felt the machine press together. She smiled and jumped to the top. She put many tiny rocks on her hands and started to punch the steel, causing it to go to shatter. With almost nothing left of the scraps, Toph returned the rocks to the ground and followed the others.

Katara lead the group as they advanced to the next machine. She brought up water from her pouch and created a wave that swept the soldiers in their path away. Rachel watched in silence for awhile, not sure that tearing through machine after machine was the best solution. She thought and thought until she finally yelled out, "Hey! Stop for a second!"

Sonic nearly stumbled in surprise, but managed not to fall. Katara and Toph stood next to him. "What is it Rachel?" Sonic asked curiously.

Rachel stood up and said, "I think going through all of these steel contraptions is a waste of time! Am I right?" The three others nodded.

"Well, I have a different plan! Toph, you go up to the machines and see if you can feel the vibrations of the Chaos Emerald in any of them." Toph nodded and ran off.

"Sonic, Katara, we'll watch her back." They nodded and Katara took off. Sonic smiled and said, "This is why you do the thinking and why I love you." Rachel smiled and let him pick her up again.

He ran alongside Katara before he let Rachel stand. The three of them spread out in different directions and got rid of any soldiers that tried to stop Toph. Toph knelt next to the metal and tried to feel vibrations. She concentrated as hard as she could, but couldn't feel the emerald. She turned to the others and shook her head.

They did this until there appeared to be no other machines or soldiers left. Sonic sighed and turned towards the girls.

"Well, it looks like we would've had to go through all of the machines anyways. But, it was still a good idea Rachel." Rachel smiled, but her eyes showed great sadness. It looked like the Fire Nation didn't have the Chaos Emerald after all. Everyone was silent until…

"Hey guys, I feel some really heavy vibrations coming our way!" Sonic and Rachel looked over as they heard loud pounding sounds and noticed large dust clouds.

"Is that…?" Sonic muttered to himself. 5 seconds later, a swift bird ran by them and skidded to a stop. Rachel yelled out, "It can't be!"

The bird smiled and held up a yellow gem. "You thought I'd leave you guys hanging? Come on Sonic, you know me better than anyone!" Sonic smiled and replied, "Welcome back buddy."

Chapter Thirty-Five:

Thunder handed the Chaos Emerald to Sonic. "Great entrance!" Sonic said grinning. Thunder smiled back and said, "Well, what can I say? I've been stuck inside of a giant guardian phoenix! I have to make myself known again."

"True. Hey, where did you find the emerald anyways?"

"In some giant hole in the ground. I don't know why it was there, but just be glad that I did find it!"

Sonic laughed. "Yeah, it probably could've been anywhere on this planet!" Katara stared at Thunder with wide eyes, never uttering a sound. Toph continued staring at the ground, silently kicking dirt. Rachel realized their confusion, opened her mouth to say something, but then she shut it and smiled to herself, thinking, _There's no way they will understand. _Thunder seemed to finally notice them when he gave Katara and Toph questioning glances.

"Um, are these locals?" He asked uncertainly. Sonic nodded.

"Yep. They're from around here and- hey, why haven't we teleported yet?"

Thunder stared at him blankly. "What do you mean?"

"We have the Chaos Emerald. In the other worlds, once we got the Chaos Emerald, we left for the next world."

"Yeah, you're right." Thunder looked up to the sky and scratched his head thoughtfully. "Rachel, do you have any ideas?"

Rachel shook her head. "No. We should be going to the next world by-.." A huge crashing noise pierced the air.

"What- what's happening?" Katara stuttered.

"I'm feeling several vibrations coming from right in front of us." Toph stated. The ground started shaking harder and a huge gape began to form. Sonic grinned at the chasm and muttered, "Well, our next step to finding the Chaos Emeralds is right in front of us." Thunder and Rachel nodded, but Sonic and Rachel added, _And one step closer to saving Knuckles, _in their thoughts.

After they had jumped into the gape, Sonic, Thunder and Rachel all went face first into the next world. They landed with a giant thud into a grass field next to a shrine.

"Ow," Thunder muttered angrily, "Why is it that whenever we go to a new world, we always land really hard?" Sonic held onto his head and grunted as he slowly rose to his feet. He walked over to Rachel and helped her get up.

"Are you ok?" He asked nervously. She smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks." Her words were gentle, and she tried to smile, but her voice and eyes were tired and depressed. Sonic knew that the past few worlds were rough on her. He figured that the whole Knuckles-is-in-danger thing must've been hard on her as well. Sonic didn't believe that she was ok, but he pretended like he did for her sake.

"Um… Any ideas as to where we are now?" Thunder asked. Sonic and Rachel gazed around at their environment to try and see if there were any clues as to where they were, but when Sonic couldn't think of anything, he turned to Rachel, and she shook her head, giving him a I-have-no-idea-where-we-are-type of looks.

The three of them looked around for awhile before saying anything else. Finally, a small giggling sound broke the silence, causing everyone to jump. Thunder glanced around nervously.

"Anybody else getting creeped out already?" Thunder asked awkwardly. Sonic looked around intently and brought Rachel closer to him. She rested her head on his chest and hugged him tightly. The laughing slowly grew louder as the sun continued to rise in the distance. She always hated having the feeling of helplessness and confusion. She wanted to go back to Mobius with Sonic, to settle down and be happy. Thunder rolled his eyes at them.

"I can't believe you're here already!" Thunder jumped slightly as little girls emerged from the nearby trees. They both smiled at the newcomers with a sparkle in their eyes. The girl on the right was about Sonic's height and she had blue hair and purple eyes. Even Thunder couldn't help but think, _Aw, she's cute! _

The girl on the left was a little bit taller and had light pink hair and purple eyes. But, the odd thing about her was, she had two black horns sticking out of her hair. Rachel started to get an odd feeling in her stomach about her.

"Um… Instead of standing there staring at us like creepers, why don't you tell us who you are?" Thunder said aggressively as he glared at them. Sonic gave him a was-that-really-necessary-type looks.

The girl on the right made her smile a little smaller and replied, "My name is Rika, and this is Hanyuu." She gestured to the girl on her right. Hanyuu bowed slightly and waved to them all. Rachel couldn't be sure, but she swore that Hanyuu and Rika both stared at her mysteriously, without a single smile on their faces. Rachel jumped back slightly.

"Rachel? Are you all right?" Sonic looked at her with concern. She stared at him for a little while, wondering how he couldn't have seen what she saw.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said as she struggled to give a convincing smile. But it obviously didn't work, because Sonic remained totally unconvinced. _What is up with her lately? _Sonic wondered, _I should probably give her a break. She's really stressed out. _He took her hand in his and whispered, "Let's stick with these girls, and as soon as we get somewhere safe, you should take a rest for a while." Rachel stared at him, horrified. She hadn't even done that much, and he was treating her like a child. At first, she opened her mouth to protest, but then she realized that Thunder was staring at them the whole time.

"Can you two stop being dramatic and follow these two over to their house?" Thunder interrupted. Sonic nodded and kept holding Rachel's hand as the three of them followed Rika and Hanyuu into town, but Rachel couldn't shake off the feeling of sickness and horror in her stomach.

Chapter Thirty-Six:

Hanyuu and Rika brought the three of them to a two-story house that was located deep in the forest. Sonic and Thunder learned that this was where Hanyuu, Rika, and their friend Satoko lived. Rachel didn't know this because she had been dazed out for so long. She hadn't been paying attention to anything for a while. She just kept staring at the ground and allowing Sonic to pull her along. He always looked back at her nervously, but she kept doing her best to smile and keep her head up for him.

The two girls offered them a map of the entire village near the forest. Sonic also asked them if they had spotted an emerald, but they simply shook their heads. So, Thunder, Sonic, and Rachel started off to the main part of the village.

Rachel looked back at the house curiously, and once again, she saw the girls looking at her expressionlessly. Rachel cringed and walked along with Sonic, feeling their stares burning through the back of her head.

At about midway through the day, the three of them reached a junkyard on the outskirts of the village. It looked like it was near an old construction site. The three of them were about to move on when Thunder suddenly stopped and said, "Wait, look over there." Sonic and Rachel stopped as well and stared at Thunder. Thunder was staring into the junkyard determinedly. Rachel and Sonic followed his gaze at a girl on top of a run-down bus. Sonic blinked a few times and then stared again. _A girl standing on a run-down bus?_

Thunder gave Sonic a, Do-you-honestly-think-it's-worth-investigating type of looks. Sonic grinned and nodded. Thunder sighed and started going towards the girl. Sonic made a gesture towards the bus with his head towards Rachel. She nodded and followed him through the junkyard. The trio reached the girl in a quick amount of time. Crows were chattering all around and circling the abandoned bus. Thunder led the group and cautiously came closer. He crept forward little by little, when his eyes went wide and he jumped back. Sonic stared at him curiously.

"Geez, Thunder, why are you so jumpy all of a sudden?" he asked. Thunder whispered an apology and then made a small gesture towards the girl with his head. Rachel looked up at her, her back facing them. At first, she didn't see anything wrong with her. Then, she gasped and stumbled backwards. Sonic seemed to notice it too, because he was backing up slowly, his eyes wide and his mouth gaped open. Inside the girl's left hand was a large, sharp machete. She seemed to hear their gasps, because she turned around and looked at them, machete pulled over her left shoulder. The crows screeched loudly and flew up and away in an instant. The girl smiled and turned around.

"Hi there. My name's Rena. Want to come inside the bus with me?" Sonic and Thunder never took their eyes off of the sharp blade, but Rachel was staring right into Rena's eyes. There was something about them that was out of place, but Rachel couldn't figure out what it was. Rena cocked her head to the side. Then, noticing that they were staring at the machete, she laughed and held it with both hands. Her gentle laugh made Sonic and Thunder tense up less.

"Are you afraid of this?" She asked curiously. "Don't worry. It's only for self-defense when I come out here alone." It wasn't too reassuring to Thunder, but he simply played along.

"So, do you want to come inside the bus for a little bit? You seem tired." She smiled sweetly. Sonic shrugged and walked towards Rena. Thunder hesitantly followed, and Rachel followed at the very back. She glanced at the top of the bus and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Rena looking at her with snake-like eyes. There was no kindness on her face whatsoever.

"So Rachel, you finally got here. Too bad you're boyfriend and friend won't see you die." She gave a sardonic smile and gave an evil, cruel laugh. Rachel cringed and dodged as Rena's machete came flying towards her.

Chapter Thirty-Seven:

Rena chased her throughout the junkyard, swinging her machete at her as she went. Rachel dodged her and ran farther and farther away. She wanted to take care of this herself instead of having to rely on Sonic or Thunder. When they had both reached the entrance of the junkyard, Rachel turned around and used her abilities to stop Rena dead in her tracks. Rena looked around as she held her machete high, but unable to move at all. Rachel observed her for a moment, staring into her snake eyes. Rachel started feeling her body go numb, so she released Rena for the moment. She fell to the ground, breathless.

"You'll regret this," she muttered, "Oyashiro-Sama may be a god of forgiveness, but she definitely won't forgive you!" She laughed menacingly again, then ran back towards the bus. Rachel stood for a little while, thinking hard. What really confused her was how Rena was only about 13 or 14 years old, but yet she seemed to know so much. _Well, then again, I know a lot, and I'm only 13, _Rachel thought in her head. But she also wanted to know how she had changed personalities so quickly and gotten snake-like eyes. She thought hard for a little while, when she suddenly realized that Rena had run off straight towards Sonic and Thunder, she took off at a dead sprint, hoping that she wasn't too late.

Sonic and Thunder waited by the bus for Rena and Rachel to come back. Thunder let out a long sigh and sat down with his feet outstretched. Sonic yawned and leaned against the bus. Thunder's eyes began to droop when he heard a small voice from behind him say, "Sorry that took so long."

Thunder jumped up immediately and stared at Rena, who was standing behind him with a smile on her face. There was some type of eeriness in her blue eyes that Thunder couldn't quite figure out. She had her hands behind her back, and she almost didn't move at all, except for blinking.

Thunder kept a close eye on her while Sonic looked around and asked, "Hey, where's Rachel?" Rena gave a soft giggle and mysteriously said, "Oh, she's just going out for a little while. I can go look for her if you want me to." Sonic gave and slight nod and watched Rena walk away. Thunder turned to Sonic.

"Is it just me, or does this girl seem like she's got a lot up her sleeve?" Thunder asked. Sonic nodded in agreement. He turned his head back towards the spot where Rena had walked off, but she wasn't there.

"Um, Thunder."

"Yeah?"

"Is it just me, or was Rena there just ten seconds ago, and now she's gone?" Thunder looked over where Rena had been and then nodded with wide eyes. The two of them became very alert and looked around for any signs of Rena or Rachel.

"Found you, Sonic." Sonic whirled around as Rena came running towards him with her machete in hand, her eyes like a snake. Sonic jumped out of the way just in time, and Thunder narrowly escaped as well. Rena went to put her machete up higher, when her hand involuntarily opened up, and the machete floated higher and farther away from her. Sonic grinned as Rena stared at it with a slight twinge of anger in her eyes.

"Glad you could join us again, Rachel," Sonic said happily. Rachel smiled at him from the top of the bus.

"Not that we couldn't have handled it ourselves!" Thunder added quickly. Sonic rolled his eyes at him. Rachel turned to Rena.

"Thought it would be funny to kill both of them?" Rachel asked intently. Rena kept the same blank expression on her face and didn't reply. Then, she gave an evil smile and laughed loudly and cruelly. Everyone cringed as she looked at Sonic.

"Sonic, you realize that Oyashiro-Sama has the emerald, and that she lied to you." Sonic stared at her blankly as she let out another evil laugh. Sonic was really confused. _Who the heck is Oyashiro-Sama? _He thought curiously. Thunder had had enough of the charades.

"Ok, if you're not going to tell us who Oyashiro-Sama is, then you might as well consider yourself a captive, because I am NOT going to let you put riddles around our heads while you act all creepy and evil," he declared. He turned towards Rachel and gave a slight gesture towards the bus with his head. Rachel nodded and let the machete drop from the sky. She actually didn't feel that bad, and she had held it up for quite a long time. She smiled to herself with pride that she was learning how to control her powers better. She then focused on Rena. Her eyes started to glow again, and she imagined Rena being pushed through the window of the bus and being barricaded in. Not long afterwards, Rena let out a gasp of surprise as she went flying through the window of the bus. Junk piles from all around her started barricading the all the bus's exits. Rachel smiled again, this time wider.

"Nice work, smarty!" Sonic exclaimed as he gave her a wink and a thumbs-up. Rachel blushed and went down towards him.

"So, right now we have to figure out who this Oyashiro-Sama person is to get the emerald, right?" Sonic asked. Thunder and Rachel nodded.

"Rena said that she is some kind of god of forgiveness or something," Rachel said. Sonic grinned.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to start in the village!" He said excitedly. He picked up Rachel and ran out of the junkyard as fast as he could, Thunder following him close behind.

Chapter Thirty-Eight:

The three of them ran for a little while (Well, Sonic and Thunder ran while Sonic carried Rachel) until they finally reached the village of Hinamizawa. The sun was starting to set, and Sonic kept getting a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. They were running out of time, and they still didn't have the emerald. They had to find out a few things before they could know exactly where to find it though. Rachel was thinking long and hard about what Rena had said. _Oyashiro-Sama is some kind of god, and apparently she lied to us somehow. So, Oyashiro-Sama is a girl, and we've already met her… who could that be? _She wondered. Then, she gasped in shock as she finally realized something. That weird feeling she had gotten, the blank stares, the evil presence throughout the village, all of it made sense. Sonic and Thunder skidded to a stop.

"What's wrong Rachel?" Sonic asked with a concerned look on his face. Rachel got the evil feeling in her stomach again as more people walked by on the other side of the street. Rachel looked up at him determinedly.

"I know who Oyashiro-Sama is." She whispered.

The three of them raced towards the shrine again where they had first met Rika and Hanyuu. They started retracing their footsteps through the forest where they had been led to Rika and Hanyuu's house. As they got closer and closer, a girl talked to them in an eerie voice saying, "You might as well give up. You are almost out of time anyways."

Rachel turned around and saw Rika standing there with a glum look in her eyes. Thunder and Sonic looked as well. Sonic turned to Rachel and whispered, "Is that the god we're looking for?"

Rachel shook her head and replied, "That's her reincarnation." Sonic gave her a confused look, but asked no more. Rika gave a slight, evil smile, then let out a small laugh.

"You're going to lose everything Sonic," she continued, "all of your friends, your belongings, the one person you truly love." Sonic grunted slightly and turned to Rachel nervously. He felt this feeling of regret fill up in his stomach. It was all his fault that they were in this situation. Rachel looked at him and then held his hand. She smiled slightly and sent him a message through her mind. _It'll be ok, Sonic. Everything will be fine. _Sonic smiled and nodded at her. Rika continued to talk to him in a deep tone.

"You might as well give in to Fiery. Oyashiro-Sama will never permit you to have the Chaos Emerald. I suggest you prepare yourself for a life without your friends and your girlfriend." Thunder started getting really ticked off. The feathers on his head moved forward slightly. Sonic, however, started shaking all over. He was starting to get a feeling that Rika was right. He felt like fighting back was no use anymore. The realization that he could lose everything consumed him. Rachel held his hand even tighter and sent him another message through his head.

_Sonic, please, you just have to hang in there for one more day! Rika's just trying to get into your head! Please, I'm right here, and I'm never going to leave you! I'm going to be fine as long as you remain strong! Please! _Sonic tried as hard as he could to regain his courage, but it wasn't going to come back quick enough. So, Thunder decided to act as the offense.

"Will you stop with this whole thing about Sonic's life being totally ruined! It's not going to happen, so just stop trying to scare him and get a freaking life!" Thunder stared straight at Rika with total rage in his eyes. Rika didn't seem taken aback at all as the wind starting picking up. The wind starting blowing harder and harder as the three of them turned to block their faces from the blowing leaves. When the wind suddenly stopped they all turned back and Rika was gone.

"Um… ok then, I guess we'll just keep looking for this Oyashiro-Sama person. Who is she again Rachel?" Thunder asked.

"It's Hanyuu, I know it. I knew she was strange from the beginning, and Rena said it was someone we had already met, and Rika just said it was someone else, so it has to be Hanyuu," Rachel replied.

"Seems reasonable. We should go and look for her and-…Sonic, are you ok?" Thunder looked at him with concern. Sonic was still shaking and staring at the ground. He couldn't drive out the feeling of losing everything from his mind. A voice kept whispering to him, _Just give up now. There's no use in fighting back. You'll just lose everything anyways. Give it up. You can't find the emeralds in time. Give up. _He had never thought that way before in his entire life. The voice grew louder and louder and he couldn't drive it out. He held his head as it started to hurt.

"Sonic? Sonic? Sonic, can you hear me? Sonic!" Rachel was yelling at him and shaking him hard. His vision started to blur and he could barely hear her voice.

"Sonic! Sonic! SONIC!" Immediately, the voice went away and he came back to his senses. He was laying on the ground with his hands grasping his head. He was breathing pretty hard and he felt sweat on his face. Rachel was knelt down beside him with a scared look on her face. Thunder was staring down at him with concern.

"S-Sonic?" Rachel muttered with uncertainty. Sonic remained on the ground, but he took his hands off of his head.

"What…. What happened?" he asked.

"You totally freaked out for a little while. You were screaming and rolling around. You seemed like you were blacked out or something," Thunder replied. Sonic turned to Rachel.

"Did I really freak out that much?" he asked. Rachel nodded, still shocked from the whole thing. Sonic stood up and looked around for a little bit. He wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten to the point of spazzing out.

"There was a voice…..inside my head…" Sonic explained to the others.

"Ok Sonic, now you're just being weird," Thunder said.

"No… There was a voice that was telling me to give up. I couldn't control myself… My senses just went completely blank." He turned to Rachel. She was shaking slightly, and her eyes were wide. She was scared stiff by what had happened to Sonic. He walked over to her.

"Hey, Rachel, there's no need to be scared of me anymore! I'm back to normal!" He walked forward and hugged her. Rachel felt herself going numb as she started crying and holding him tight. Thunder rolled his eyes and went, "Yeah, yeah, she's scared, now can we get to Hanyuu and get that emerald! We're running out of time!" He pointed to the sun, which was almost completely gone. Sonic kissed Rachel briefly and said, "Come on! Let's get the emerald so we can get out of here faster!" He smiled at her and she nodded. He picked her up and Sonic and Thunder ran off towards the house as the sun kept falling.

Chapter Thirty-Nine:

When they finally reached Hanyuu's house, the sun was barely noticeable. Sonic felt a little twinge of nervousness in his stomach. They all rushed near the door of the house when the wind shook the trees violently again. A voice spoke to them again.

"So, you managed to figure out who I really am, did you?" Rachel turned around and saw Hanyuu standing there. No, it wasn't Hanyuu. It was the god Oyashiro-Sama. She looked just like Hanyuu except for her eyes. Her eyes were all black except for some small purple pupils in the middle of them. Rachel looked into her eyes intently, but for some reason, she didn't seem angry. She seemed… sorry.

"I know that Fiery has caused you much trouble," she continued, "and he has caused me trouble as well." Her eyes filled with anger as she continued. "He's killed some of my villagers and burned some of the houses down. He told me to put some discipline upon my people to atone for their sins, but I am a god of forgiveness! I would never do such a thing!" She pulled out a white emerald from her sleeve and handed it to Sonic.

"Put it to good use," she begged, "and stop that monster from doing any more damage."

Sonic nodded as another portal swept him and the others to another world.

Rachel woke up on the floor of a huge mansion with a grand staircase in the middle. She smiled to herself. _One last world, then we can save Knuckles, _she thought happily. She could hear a clock ticking loudly in the dead silence. Then, she heard heavy breathing to her left. She looked over and noticed Sonic laying on the floor, still unconscious. She noticed that moonlight was shining through the window, so Sonic was in his werehog form. "Sonic! Sonic, can you hear me?" Rachel shook him slightly.

Sonic gave a small grunt and slowly opened his eyelids. He looked at his hands and sighed.

"Well, I thought I'd never have to be like this ever again. Guess I was wrong." He stood up and looked around a little bit.

"Hey, where's Thunder?" he asked curiously. Rachel shrugged and noticed that Sonic was avoiding her gaze. She came closer to him.

"Sonic, how come you're acting so weird now?" she asked calmly. Sonic looked at her only for a split second.

"If we don't find the Chaos Emerald by morning, I could lose you for good. And I'm not talking about like in Rapture where you just disappear for a little while, or that time when we first got to Mobius and you died and came back to life! I'm talking about you being gone forever, and I may not even get a chance to say goodbye! I've lost you too many times, taken too many risks with your life. I won't lose you again. I…I can't." He turned away from her and shut his eyes tight. He just couldn't lose Rachel for good. The first time she died, she had come back to life, but that had been pure luck. He would no longer put her in danger. He refused to. That's why he ignored her. But before he knew what was happening, Rachel spun him around and kissed him square in the mouth. He didn't know what to think at first, but he didn't care. He let go of everything he was feeling and focused on Rachel. She stopped just for a second and whispered to him, "I'm not going to leave you, Sonic. I love you too much to let you go. Besides, you shouldn't give up yet. We haven't even figured out where we are." Sonic smiled and kissed her back. Then, he pulled away slightly and asked, "Wait, have you seen any signs of Thunder yet?"

Rachel shook her head and looked around one last time. Then, she remembered that if he was there, she would've felt his presence. But she did feel something nearby. But, it was something much stronger than Thunder's presence. She hugged Sonic close. He felt the fear that was creeping over her. He looked around for anyone who might've been around. But all he heard was the ticking clock. He turned back to Rachel.

"Well, how about we find the emerald and Thunder so that we can get home?" he asked. Rachel nodded in agreement and gave him one last kiss. She whispered, "I love you." Then, she looked around the main room for any clues. Sonic did the same, and came upon a painting of a woman in a forest. He stared at it for a while, confused as to who it was. He looked at the stone tablet beside the painting. It was written in a different language, so he couldn't read it.

"Hey, Rachel," he called, "can you read this?" Rachel walked over and looked at the stone tablet carefully. It was written in Japanese, and she could read it just fine. After reading it a few times, she looked at the picture thoughtfully. Sonic looked at her carefully.

"Anything of interest?" he asked. Rachel nodded, still staring at the painting. She looked at the woman's eyes intently. Sonic shook her slightly and whispered, "You ok? Did you read anything of interest?" Rachel didn't take her gaze off of the painting.

"What? Oh, yeah. It said that this is Beatrice the Golden Witch. She is a witch from the forest around this mansion." Sonic looked at her again as a small golden butterfly flew in through a window. A soft, evil laugh filled the room. Sonic instantly grabbed Rachel and kept her behind him as he looked around for anyone in sight. The laugh grew louder and the golden butterfly turned into the form of a lady in a golden dress. Her blue eyes stared thoughtfully at Rachel, and she gave an evil grin and laughed once more.

Chapter Forty:

The woman stood there for a moment, studying Rachel carefully. She smiled at her cruelly.

"So, Rachel, I hear that you have a remarkable talent when it comes to magic!" The woman laughed again and Sonic tightened up even more. She paid no regard to him as she continued speaking to Rachel.

"Well, let's test out your ability a little bit, shall we? Come, arise, one of the Seven Stakes of Purgatory, Pride!" Several golden butterflies appeared as they made a circle around each other. Then, a light flashed, and a girl with red eyes and black hair appeared with her head bowed. Sonic gritted his teeth slightly.

"Lucifer of Pride, present," the girl said. She stood up and faced the woman.

"Well, Beatrice, are you afraid of getting your hands dirty?" Rachel asked menacingly. Sonic stared at her with confusion. How did she know who that woman was? Rachel never took her eyes off of the lady as she answered, "She's the same woman in that painting, didn't you notice? She's Beatrice the Golden Witch." Beatrice smirked with pride.

"So, you realized it did you? I suppose the only reason he loves you is because you're smarter than him!"

"That's not true!" Sonic yelled. Beatrice ignored him as she said, "Well, I guess I should just get her out of your way. She's no use to you anyways! I've chosen her to face Pride because she has become so proud of herself for being able to use her magic abilities better! So, it only fits!" Beatrice turned back to Lucifer.

"Kill the girl immediately!" she ordered. Lucifer bowed again and answered, "As you wish." Lucifer stood up and walked towards Rachel.

"Let's see how well you can control you powers in a real fight!" Beatrice yelled. Rachel started to walk forward when Sonic stopped her. Rachel looked at him questionably.

"I'm not going to let you die just for the entertainment of some stupid witch!" Sonic said firmly.

"Sonic…" Rachel wanted to protest, but she knew that it was no use. She nodded slightly and backed up. Lucifer glared at Sonic.

"Hey, what kind of game are you playing here?" she asked. She looked at Beatrice for orders. Beatrice simply laughed and replied, "Let him get killed if that's what he truly desires!" Lucifer bowed and turned back to Sonic. In a flash, she was charging towards him with a light sword on her right arm. Sonic jumped to the side just in time. The two of them battled fiercely as they traveled up the main staircase. Rachel watched them intently. Beatrice laughed at her.

"So, Rachel, it looks like you've avoided fighting yet again and allowed him to put himself in harm's way! Congratulations!" She laughed yet again, and Rachel tightened her hands into fists. She clenched her teeth as she began filling up with rage.

"I am not weak, I am not pitiful, and I can easily fight whenever I want!" She glared at Beatrice. She simply smiled in return and started clapping. Rachel felt more anger build up inside of her. The furniture around the main room began to shake slightly.

"Such a strong amount of anger deserves a reward! Arise, one of the Seven Stakes of Purgatory, Wrath!" Several tiny golden butterflies appeared again as a girl with white hair and red eyes appeared. She had her eyes bowed.

"Satan of Wrath, present!"

"Face this brave young girl so that we can see who has enough rage to win!"

"As you wish, Beatrice."

Satan stood up and walked towards Rachel. Rachel braced herself as Satan grinned and created a light sword on her right arm.

"Oh, you do have a lot of anger! This should be fun!" Satan called. Rachel focused really hard as Satan advanced towards her swiftly. Rachel created a shield as Satan thrust the sword forward. She made the shield do a sudden burst forward so that Satan went flying across the room. She gasped as she hit the ground hard.

"How dare you humiliate me…" she grunted through her teeth. She grimaced as she pushed herself off the floor. Anger flashed in her eyes as she attempted another charge at Rachel. Rachel used all of the energy she could and stopped Satan dead in her path. She twitched a little as she tried to get free, but it was useless. Rachel's grip was too strong. She pushed Satan back against the opposite wall as hard as she could with her powers. _SMACK! _She hit the wall with enough force to leave giant cracks. Satan flew up with blind fury in her eyes. She spun around several times, and in a flash, she turned into a metal stake. Rachel had zero time to react as the stake came flying right towards her face.

Sonic avoided Lucifer as much as possible. He glanced over every once in awhile to make sure that Rachel was ok. He grinned to himself when she hit Satan a few times. When he turned back to Lucifer, she was sending a fast kick right towards his face. He grabbed her leg just in time and threw her through the beams of the upper floor of the house. She grunted and struggled to get up. Sonic looked over at Rachel again for a quick second. His eyes widened as he saw a metal stake rushing right towards her. He held his breath and passed out as Lucifer kicked him right in the chin.

Chapter Forty-One:

Rachel barely managed to create a forcefield in front of the stake before it stabbed her forehead. She made it fall to the floor with force. Satan turned back into her normal form as she stumbled up. She started burning with fury as she refused to face Beatrice. Beatrice stared at Rachel with amusement in her eyes. But Rachel wasn't focusing on Beatrice at all. She was very cold all over. She began trembling as she stared blankly at Lucifer, who was grinning down at Sonic. He was unconscious and lying flat on his stomach. Rachel felt her fear taking over her as Lucifer turned into a metal stake and pointed herself at Sonic's back. Rachel felt her fear taking over her and clouding her mind. Her eyes began to glow and she lost control of her mind and body. She didn't want to completely lose to her powers, but she had to save Sonic. The furniture started shaking crazily and the floor vibrated violently. Beatrice watched as her hair and dress whipped behind her. She kept a smirk on her face as she gained more and more interest. Vases and chairs started moving in a whirlwind towards Lucifer. She turned back into her normal form in confusion. Then, as the vortex came rushing over to her, she teleported away. Rachel tried to stop herself before she accidentally hurt Sonic, but she couldn't gain her composure.

Sonic slowly regained consciousness. His vision slowly regained focus and he could start moving again. He noticed Rachel losing control of herself again. He slowly got up and ducked as a vase came flying towards him. He suddenly realized that he was in actual danger again. He maneuvered around as quickly and safely as he could. When he finally got to Rachel, he held her close and kissed her lightly. He knew that it would be just like in Athens, where all he had to do was kiss her and tell her he loved her, and she would be fine. But when he kissed her, she didn't even flinch. He began panicking and trying to tell her that he loved her, but it still didn't work. No matter what he did or said, she wouldn't calm down at all. He began struggling to understand what was going on when Beatrice laughed cruelly. Sonic glared at her and showed his fangs at her slightly.

"It's no use!" Beatrice yelled, "She's never going to get out of her trance! I've locked her inside of it, and there's no way for her to escape… unless…" She broadened her smile, "you or her dies." She laughed cruelly. Sonic grunted at her. He knew that it was probably true, but he didn't want to admit it.

Rachel couldn't even attempt to free herself from her own powers. She was trapped. She started freaking out, afraid that Sonic would die trying to save her. Beatrice had her trapped, and there was no way around her sick, twisted game.

Sonic refused to let Rachel or himself lose their life. He tried to think of something to do to stop Rachel, but he knew that it was no use. He wanted Rachel to live on, to be happy. She would be able to get the Chaos Emerald, save Knuckles, and start a new life with him. She had a chance of moving on without him. Sonic, however would never forgive himself for letting Rachel die while he got a chance at happiness. It was selfish, and he would never be able to move on without her. He took a long, deep breath and started moving to the outside of the vortex. But suddenly, he was frozen. He couldn't move at all. Beatrice grinned and snickered.

"You didn't think I would make it that easy, did you?" She snapped her fingers and Lucifer reappeared right by her side.

"You'll have to live with the fact that there was nothing you could do about it!" She laughed (I know, she laughs a lot! But that's how she is in the anime) as Lucifer turned into a metal stake and stabbed right into Rachel's chest. The wind suddenly stopped and Rachel's eyes went wide. Sonic was able to move again, but he stayed frozen, staring at Rachel with a terrified expression. Rachel felt tears running down her face. She looked at Sonic.

"Son-ic…" she muttered. She fell to the ground and Sonic started shaking immensely.

Chapter Forty-Two:

When Sonic was finally able to process everything in his head, he ran over to Rachel's body. He was still shaking as he lifted her up slightly. He kissed her on the forehead and held onto her tightly. He knew that she was dead, and he would never be able to talk to her again, to see her smile and laugh. She was gone, and there was no way of bringing her back to life. Beatrice laughed again.

"Do you honestly feel this much sadness over her death? She was worthless anyways! I suggest you forget about her quickly!" she yelled. But Sonic wasn't listening. His eyes got misty and he shut them tight. Beatrice frowned slightly.

"I guess you honestly aren't going to forget about her. I guess I'll just have to force you to remember her as she was." She snapped her fingers and thousands of tiny golden butterflies appeared and surrounded Rachel's body. Sonic's eyes widened as they lifted her in the air and made her vanish. He glared at Beatrice as she grinned triumphantly. He showed his fangs slightly. There was no way he would ever see Rachel again, and there was also no way to allow her to at least rest in peace. He charged at Beatrice, but she merely turned into butterflies and flew off to the other side of the room. She reformed and laughed.

"Come now, you honestly don't believe that you can just let out your anger on me!" she mocked, "But, I think I know someone you can let your anger out on instead."

She snapped her fingers again and tiny butterflies appeared and formed into another person. Sonic looked away as a bright light flashed. When he opened his eyes, he looked at Rachel standing there. He blinked again, looking at her carefully. Her eyes were full of…. nothing. She had a straight face, and she was standing there perfectly still. Sonic decided that no matter how much he wanted Rachel to be alive, that person standing before him was definitely not her. He braced himself for whatever was going to come.

"Let me guess, I have to face her, right?" he asked Beatrice. She grinned widely and nodded. Sonic wondered why she was so happy and confident.

_This isn't Rachel. I know that already. Therefore, I won't feel pain when I hurt this faker, _Sonic thought. "Rachel" ran forward towards him as fast as she could. Sonic pulled back and punched her in the gut as hard as he could. She fell backwards onto the ground with a thud. Sonic walked up to try and hit her again, but then she started crying. He stopped in confusion. She looked up at him, her eyes full of betrayal and sadness.

"Sonic… why?" she stuttered miserably. Sonic choked up as he looked at his true love in the face. It really was Rachel. She sobbed in despair.

"I… I didn't do anything. I… I thought you loved me!" she cried. Sonic felt his eyes tear up as he tried to come with an explanation.

"No! Of course I love you! Beatrice tried to make you attack me! She killed you!" He said it all so fast and so urgently. He kneeled down and buried his face in his hands. How could he have been so quick to assume that it wasn't really her? He couldn't believe that he had actually hurt her so easily.

"Sonic…" she whispered. He looked up and saw her fist nail him in the face. He flew back and looked up in astonishment. Rachel had the expressionless look on her face again as she went to kick him in stomach. He blocked it and threw her into the chandelier that was lying on the ground. Rachel tumbled through the glass on the floor. She got up and held her arm in pain. There was some blood running out of it. Rachel's eyes filled with sorrow again and she knelt to the ground. She sobbed loudly again.

"Why are you hurting me so much?" she asked, "I thought you said you would never hurt me no matter what! Was that a lie? Has everything you told me been a lie? Has our whole relationship been a lie!?" She continued to cry loudly. Sonic shook with a mixture of confusion and regret. He had no idea what to do. Should he attack her? If he did that, the real Rachel would get hurt and betrayed. Should he simply leave her alone? If he did that, the fake Rachel would attack him so much that he would never win. He had no idea what he could do. Beatrice laughed more enthusiastically than ever.

"What are you going to do, Sonic? Get beaten by a fake version of your true love, or kill the real one?" She grinned sardonically. Sonic stood there and looked between Beatrice and Rachel. He took a deep breath and made a decision. He looked at Rachel with pain in his eyes. She looked at him pleadingly.

"Please…" she whimpered, "Please… I love you… please, don't do this!" Sonic heard the pain in her voice. He clenched his teeth and barely muttered, "I'm sorry Rachel. But there's no other way. Just know that I will always love you." He picked up a bar that had broken off from the chandelier. Rachel whimpered as he lifted the bar above his head and started to cry silently. He swung the bar up and down, each time striking her head as hard as he could. Rachel screamed each time as her face got more and more bruised. After a few more times, she went limp and stopped breathing. Her eyes were open, her eyes emotionless, the last of her tears falling down her face. Beatrice didn't break her expression at all, but instead grinned wider. Sonic let go of the bar and fell to the ground in despair. He felt horrible. He felt like a monster, a demon. How could he have ever done that to her? The one person he had truly loved… and he was the reason that she was gone. He had actually killed her. He cried out in misery and hatred. Tons of tears dripped off of his face and onto the tile floor. He couldn't live with himself anymore. He yelled out in frustration at himself, sorrow at Rachel's death, and anger at Beatrice for making him make that decision. He remembered Beatrice standing there, and he turned around slowly, glaring at her with pure hatred in his eyes. It was all her fault. She was the reason that he had become so selfish. He was furious at her. She was a cruel, evil, heartless witch, who was simply beautiful to make others fall for her tricks. He had to get rid of her for good, for Rachel.

Chapter Forty-Three:

Beatrice stared at him with satisfaction.

"How are you going to get rid of me then, Sonic?" she asked menacingly. Sonic had no idea at first. He couldn't just hit her, or she would just teleport away. But then, he all of a sudden didn't care anymore. He didn't care about her and her twisted magic. He only felt sadness at what he had done. He believed that absolutely no magic had been performed. It was only his actions that caused Rachel to die. He didn't believe in the magic or witch stuff. Beatrice screamed in agony. Sonic looked up and saw that a giant spear was pierced through her right shoulder. He stared at her in shock. Where had that come from? Beatrice moaned in pain and staggered backwards. She looked into his eyes with hatred.

"How… how dare you deny me!" she moaned, "I am a witch, and witches do exist!" Sonic was still unsure of what had happened, but apparently, the fact that he was denying that she really was a witch made her weaker. He still didn't believe in her magic at all. He normally did believe in that stuff (considering the fact that he had helped a genie in a magic book once) but Rachel's death was too hard to believe. He didn't think that any of it was real. Another spear went right through Beatrice's stomach. She screamed and groaned in despair.

"How… how is this possible?" she moaned.

Sonic glared at her and said triumphantly, "Witches don't exist." The floor shook as another spear rose out of the floor and went through Beatrice's chest. She yelled as it rose her up higher off the floor. She laid her head back and twitched slightly in pain.

"It… it hurts…" she muttered. She sighed and laid perfectly still. A flash appeared as a light blue emerald appeared in the middle of the main floor. Sonic walked over to it and clutched it in his hand. He looked around and noticed that everything around him was fading. He sighed as a white light consumed everything.

Sonic opened his eyes slowly. He was back in his normal form, all seven of the chaos emeralds surrounding him. He was floating in a place where there was misty purple and black air everywhere. A ball of fire appeared and steadily became the form of Fiery. He flapped his wings slowly and swooped his wing over the emeralds. They disappeared and then reappeared around Fiery.

"I appreciate all the effort you put into finding these for me," he said, "but now it appears that you are at a bit of a loss. Yes, you found all of the Chaos Emeralds, but you were not able to save your beloved girlfriend. As for your friend here, (the hourglass with Knuckles inside of it appeared) well, the only reason I should keep him alive is so that he can still be the Guardian of Angel Island, causing less trouble for me. But I have seen his actions as Guardian, and they are…amateur, at best. His stupidity lead him to becoming Enerjak and destroying half of Mobius, (Read Sonic the Hedgehog comics 181-184) so he has done more harm than good. Therefore, I see no reason to keep him around. You shouldn't be alive either." He turned to Sonic and looked down at him.

"Why do you think you should be alive? You lost your true love, you're about to lose your best friend, and I have seen your actions as a 'hero'. You cause more trouble than I already have, and you cause your closest friends to sacrifice their lives for you. Therefore, this is the end for you, and I must say, I have no pity for you." The emeralds grew brighter, and Fiery began to transform into a new phoenix. This phoenix had sharp points on the edges of its wings, and it glowed with a purple fire. Its eyes had a sharp red fire to them. It was a bit larger and had sharper talons and beak. It screeched terribly and blew away all of the air to reveal the core of Mobius. Sonic felt a surge of chaos energy flowing through him. He turned yellow and his eyes turned red. A yellow glow surrounded him and his spikes were swerved upward.

"I feel that it should be a fair fight. This way, things shouldn't be so easy, and I hopefully won't get bored easily," Fiery said. Sonic stared at him intently. He had every intention of beating Fiery for everything he had done. He grinned at the thought of kicking his butt for good.

"Let's get this over with so that I don't have to watch you cry," Sonic teased.

Chapter Forty-Four:

Fiery charged at Super Sonic with all of his might. Sonic dodged and flew off through a portal nearby. Fiery followed close behind as they started diving down towards the sands of Egypt.

They clashed along the dunes as they got closer and closer to the old tomb. Horus came out of the roof and screeched at them. He opened his wings wide and grew into a bigger eagle. It barged between Fiery and Sonic, blocking Fiery from attacking him. Sonic grinned, realizing that he had a lot more allies than he thought. Another portal opened and Sonic flew into it as Fiery struck Horus down and chased after Sonic.

They went crashing through the city of Rapture and into a large laboratory. They each clashed into each other, then turned around and hit each other again and again. Sonic started feeling weaker and weaker with each impact. Just as he let his guard down, a big flame came towards him. He got ready for the worst when a Big Daddy came up and blocked the fire. Sonic grinned as the flames dimmed down and the Big Daddy ran his spinning drill right into Fiery. Fiery was stalled for a long time as he screeched loudly, trying to escape from the Big Daddy's grasp.

"Over here, Mr. Sonic!" Sally whispered. Sonic turned and saw her right next to the next portal. Sonic smiled at her and ran through it, Fiery flying in it as well, just in time.

Athens became visible as they soared through the sky. _Well, this brings back some pretty good and pretty terrible memories, _Sonic thought grimly. Fiery screeched and came at Sonic like a bullet. Sonic dodged just in time as Athena came up and threw him into a building.

"Oh, it's you again. Long time no see," Sonic said as he dodged her. She began to throw several rocks at him at full speed. He dodged left and right, trying to watch for Fiery. _I forgot. In some worlds, some people actually support Fiery, _Sonic thought wearily. He turned around quickly and shot at her like a fireball. She got hit in the stomach and fell to the ground. Fiery came swooping in and grabbed Sonic with his talons. He carried him tightly to the next portal.

They flew over Battery City as Sonic struggled to get out of Fiery's grasp. Fiery finally threw him down below. Sonic fell down at high speeds, and there was nothing for him to land on. He couldn't gain control and fly in time. He kept plummeting downwards, faster and faster. Then, Hatsune Miku flew up in her knight armor and caught him. She placed him on the nearest walkway carefully. She smiled at him and drew out her sword.

"So, need any help with beating him again?" she asked enthusiastically. Sonic grinned and nodded. They zoomed forward and knocked Fiery out of the air. Miku slashed her sword at him as quickly as she could. She hit him several times and knocked him down lower and lower. He recovered quickly and raced off as Sonic went through the next portal.

Fiery and Sonic went into a spiral of furious attacks at each other. They slashed, burned, and clawed each other over the rocky area. A giant rock suddenly hit Fiery in the beak. Sonic looked down to see Toph levitating rocks and preparing to launch them at Fiery. Sonic grinned as Katara sent a giant ice chunk right at the giant bird. He fell to the ground in agony. Katara sent a stream of water at him as he lay there. His flames slowly started to die down, and he twirled around madly. He got up in a rage as Sonic turned and gave a thumbs-up to the girls. Katara waved back, but Toph didn't notice. Fiery ran Sonic into the next portal in a hurry.

The two of them blazed through the forest as they headed towards the house in the woods. They fought each other fiercely, and Sonic could tell that Fiery was getting hurt easier. All Sonic needed was a few more strong hits and the phoenix would be done. Fiery charged at him with full force when time suddenly stopped. Everything was grey, and nothing moved at all: except for Oyashiro-Sama. She came over to Fiery and put an orb of energy around him. Everything went black for about two seconds, and then time went back to normal. Sonic looked around for a little bit in confusion. What had just happened? He looked over and saw another portal, and he hesitantly went through it, with Fiery nowhere to be found.

Sonic stood on the floor of the mansion. He gazed over at the painting of Beatrice. He looked at the other side of the floor. The three spears that had killed Beatrice in the last world were still there, but Beatrice was nowhere in sight. Then, a golden butterfly came in through an open window and flew in front of Sonic. It formed into Beatrice the Golden Witch. Sonic braced himself for a fight as he remembered what she had done to him and Rachel. But Beatrice made no move to attack as she kept a sad, dejected look on her face. A few tears rolled down her eyes as she looked at Sonic.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you and your girlfriend. It was wrong of me to play with your emotions like that," she said softly. Sonic glared at her with no pity whatsoever.

"Why are you crying? If anything, I should be balled up in a corner with my eyes flooding with tears after what happened to Rachel."

"I'm sorry. It can't be helped. I'm one of those people who shows their emotion from their heart onto their face. I want to earn your forgiveness for what I did to you and your girlfriend." She walked over to Rachel's body, which was still on the floor. Sonic choked back tears as he remembered how he had been responsible for her death. He looked into her dead eyes and let a single tear flow down his cheek. Beatrice put her hand out over Rachel's body. It started to give off a golden glow.

"Come, try and remember the form you once had," Beatrice whispered, "I'm sure it was a beautiful form. Let us see it again." She placed her hand on her heart and then let it down to her side. A thousand tiny golden butterflies flew around the room. Rachel's body began to glow brightly. In less than a second, her eyes had life in them, and she was blinking rapidly. Sonic stared at her for the longest time, unsure if it was really true. Rachel sat up, her face un-bruised. She looked at Sonic.

"Sonic…?" she asked nervously.

"Rachel… Rachel…" Sonic ran over to her, tears streaming down his face as he hugged her tightly. She hugged him back. He let go of her and placed a hand on her face. Rachel smiled at him.

"Is this a dream?" she asked. He shook his head.

"No. This is 100% real," he replied.

"But… how?"

"Well, ask Beatrice." Rachel turned towards the witch slowly.

"Oh, Beatrice! Thank you." She bowed slightly to her. Beatrice closed her eyes and smiled slightly.

"There's no need to thank me. I've hurt you so much that I cannot be thanked." She walked across the floor. She opened a portal in midair.

"This will lead you both back to Mobius," she instructed them, "and Fiery will be gone. Thunder will be back to normal, and Knuckles will be free. The Chaos Emeralds will be at your house. Farewell." Sonic and Rachel went through the portal and waved goodbye to Beatrice.

They ended up in a grass field on Mobius, just as Beatrice had said. Thunder and Knuckles were unconscious next to them. Sonic and Rachel sat up slowly. Sonic was back to his normal self. He went over to help Thunder, and Rachel went to help Knuckles. When they all were at least somewhat conscious, Thunder explained what had happened to him between the 6th and 7th worlds.

"Well, I was going through to the next world, when Fiery decided to take over AGAIN!" he exclaimed. Knuckles looked at him in confusion.

"What are you talking about? What happened?" he asked. Rachel started crying as she hugged him tighter than ever. She cried for a while, every once in a while saying that she was so happy that he was fine, and that she was sorry for making him worry. He blushed slightly and he hugged her back, trying to calm her down. Sonic looked at Knuckles intently.

"How did you end up in Fiery's control anyways?" he asked. Knuckled kept holding Rachel while he told them all how he had been captured by Fiery.

"I didn't exactly know what was going on after that," he explained, "All I saw was darkness, and I felt like my life was being sucked out of me slowly." He looked back and forth from Sonic to Thunder. "Now, tell me what happened to you guys." Sonic grinned.

"That's a REALLY long story! I mean, you could literally write like a 44 chapter book about it!" he exclaimed. Knuckles, Thunder and Rachel all laughed. Sonic looked at Rachel, who was holding on to Knuckles' arm.

"Before we tell you what happened, I have to do something first," Sonic said. He had been waiting a long time to say it. He hadn't had time in all of the crazy stuff that happened. He walked over to Rachel. She looked at him quizzically. Knuckles' eyes widened. He knew what was coming. Even though he and Rachel had broken up, now that things were different, he wasn't sure that he was ready. Thunder rolled his eyes and smiled slightly.

"Rachel…" Sonic whispered. Rachel's throat felt swelled and her head felt dizzy. Sonic knelt on the ground in front of her. He pulled out a ring case and opened it, revealing a shining white diamond that was shaped like a sideways square. It gleamed at Rachel. Rachel felt like the world was spinning… Was she dreaming?

"Rachel, will you marry me?" he asked. Rachel stayed frozen in her place. She couldn't answer… Her heart beat a thousand times faster, and it felt like it might explode. Knuckles looked away, not wanting to show Rachel the sadness on his face. It was all over….. he would never be able to see Rachel without Sonic being right there… Thunder looked at Rachel, suddenly confused. He saw something in her eyes… Something like… Resentment. Rachel glanced at Knuckles. His head was turned away from her. She took a deep breath, doing what her heart told her to do.

"Sonic… I love you, SO much, and you know that, but remember what happened when we got into that argument in the 4th and 5th world? You know what I'm talking about with… You-Know-Who… And that's why…" She closed her eyes as tight as she could, biting her lip hard. She had to say it… but she didn't have the courage. Sonic looked at her in shock. Was she really in love with him again? Knuckles turned his head slightly and looked at her in surprise. Was this for him? Thunder knew it was coming. He knew she wasn't really going to except. Rachel whispered. "I can't marry you." With that, she ran off, leaving Sonic, Thunder, and Knuckles all left in shock.

End of Book 2!


End file.
